


The Search of a Run-Away Feather

by DarnGoshit



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Background Dick Grayson/Zatanna Zatara - Freeform, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-05-07 04:38:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 22,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19202053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarnGoshit/pseuds/DarnGoshit
Summary: After a long, boring, week, the team is faced with a strange mission, with strange obstacles. The first, they have to do it without Robin, and the second, they have to search for someone, something they have never done. That someone? Why, it’s famous celebrity, Richard Grayson!





	1. Chapter 1

“I am not asking for trouble!”

“Oh my god, you totally are!”

“If you two could please, for just five minutes-“

“Look at her, not me, Kaldur. She was the one picking fights.”

“Me? You were the one who was complaining about the lack of crime! Something you should be happy about!”

“I would be if Rob wasn’t gone! This week is a torture of boringness without something to do, or somebody to stop!”

“My friend, I think Artemis has a point. Crime is not something to rejoice at.”

“Ha!”

“Kaldur!”

“But Kid does have a point, Artemis.This week has been torturous.”

The hero wasn’t exaggerating. All week, the young team would gather, only to be disappointed of yet another mission less afternoon. Kid Flash has been the one who had voiced his hatred the most, seeing as his acrobatic friend had decided to go AWOL. Take now, for instance. The speedster had been complaining about how there was nothing to do, when his “least favorite” teammate had tried to shut him up, telling him that the lack of crime was a good thing.

“This is the seventh time this week,” a sore-eared Conner grumbled from the kitchen. M’gann looked over with a frown.

“I wish we could stop them, too.” The Martian sighed. “Black Canary would know what to do.”

“If Black Canary was here, Wally would be more focused on flirting with her then whatever he calls what he and Artemis do.”

“Oh! Robin told me once!” M’gann’s statement obtained a curious glance from the superboy. “Yeah! He said it’s called eye-“

“Team. Report to the mission room.” The stern interruption hadn’t deterred M’gann, and Conner was in the process of explaining to her how she couldn’t just go around saying that, when Batman started explaining.

“You may have noticed the lack of crime recently,” he began, and Artemis snorted. After a glare, the bat continued. “This has not changed much.”

Wally groaned. Batman glared.

“This team is going on a search mission.” Artemis raised an eyebrow at this. “Yes, Artemis?”

“Aren’t those called search and rescue missions?”

“You aren’t rescuing,” Batman said. He continued, “Now, we don’t have any leads, so your team will have to track by your own means, with your own resources. We have any information on him that you can have.”

“Okay,” Wally said, crossing his arms. “One, you haven’t actually told us the mission. And two, where’s Robin?”

“Robin will not be joining you for this mission. He is working very hard on a case with me currently, and is needed in Gotham.” Batman’s eyes seemed to turn even more murderous when he said this, if that was possible. “As for your first question, you are tracking down a run-away.”

“What?” Conner asked, disbelief written all over his face. “Since when do we do that?”

“Since there is no other crime, and you all seem to be on the brink of insanity.” Batman’s response was quick, and snappy. It took all of Artemis’ strength not to comment on this. 

“You will be tracking down a young boy, age thirteen.” Batman brought up the file, and if Wally had been eating something, he would’ve choked. “His full name is Richard Grayson. You may have seen him before.” Batman turned to face them.

“I understand some of you may have connections with Grayson. I expect you not to act on them.” His voice was cold enough that if Wally wasn’t absolutely certain, he wouldn’t have been able to tell that that was Dick’s dad. “This is the only assignment you will ever be payed for. The money will be split up evenly, most of your share will go to a choice of the mountains design. A small percentage will go exactly to you.” Batman turned towards the Zeta Tubes. “You are dismissed.”

“That’s it?” Conner asked, as the light faded. “I didn’t really think he meant it when he said ‘no leads.’” His voice went way deeper when he said this, making M’gann giggle.

“At least he left the info up.” Artemis stepped up to the computer. “We’re in our own now, though.”

“Batman said that we could use any resources,” Wally commented. “We should go to the people who would know where he would be.”

“And why he ran off,” Kaldur added, stepping up next to Artemis. 

“So where do we start?” M’gann asked, floating next to them. Wally sped up and pointed.

“Bruce Wayne.”

“And Barbara Gordon,” Conner pointed out a newspaper, suddenly next to them.

“Well?” Kaldur asked, looking at them all. “Suits under your civies. Let’s go, team.”

/\—/\—/\—/\—/\—/\—/\—/\—/\—/\—/\—/\

When they were done changing, they entered the Gotham coordinates, and stepped through.

The Zeta beam experience is a strange one. It’s a lot like running really fast, but in place. It’s like, your molecules are going through an emo faze, and are refusing to talk to anybody, to achieve this, they have to start having a panic attack. But not bad, really. It’s kind of like sleeping, but with the other stuff too.

When they got to Gotham, Wally immediately felt out of place. Power free city. He remembered Dick sternly telling him to not use his powers in public. He had rolled his eyes then, but right now, he wished it was Dick telling them not to instead, they got the sarcastic, savage, horrible archer. Who Wally hated. Loathed. Absolutely despised.

“Don’t do anything super for now,” Artemis was telling them while these thoughts occured. “People in Gotham don’t like that.”

“What about Poison Ivy?” M’gann asked.

“That’s different. Not like the powers you guys have.”

They stared for a second, and Kaldur coughed. 

“Lead the way, Artemis.” At her shocked expression, the Atlantean continued. “You are the only one who has been to Gotham more than once or twice. We are in the dark here.”

“Right. Right! I got this. Wayne Manor is impossible to miss.” While Wally did agree with this statement, and it was pretty funny to see her this frazzled, he was a little insulted. He knew Gotham like the back of his hand! He could draw the map of Gotham with his eyes closed, only giving directions to, like, a scribe or something. Even so, he couldn’t say this. He had no business in Gotham other than Robin.

Artemis led a complex way to Wayne Manor. Wally knew why, so he didn’t ask. M’gann, on the other hand, sounded lost.

“Artemis, why are you going around buildings? Wouldn’t it be simpler to go straight?”

“Geographically? Yes. Actually? No.” Artemis paused to listen to something. “There are gangs. It would be really easy to get jumped, and we are trying to stay incognito.”

“And we don’t want to make enemies.” Wally had to add it. It was important.

Artemis ignored this.

They walked for a long time. It was always faster with Robin, because he knew shortcuts, and could do flips. He beat Wally every time, even when he had used super-speed. Wally missed that a lot. The last time they had raced, Robin had won and had had time to set up a prank. He thought of this as they finally say Wayne Manor in the distance.

“Woah,” M’gann said, her eyes finding the mansion. “Is that…?”

“Wayne Manor?” Artemis sighed. “Yep. Told ya it was hard to miss.”

As they came closer, Wally heard more of his teammates being amazed by the Manor. If Wally hadn’t already been there a million times, he would’ve gasped too. Right then, though, it seemed more like a home then “Wayne Manor.” All the memories of him, Dick, Roy-

Roy. Where was he? The archer had been one of the closest friends of Dick. He should’ve been here. Roy should’ve been here!

“It’s crazier inside,” Artemis said, bringing Wally out of his angry thoughts. He, along with the other heroes, have her a quizzical look. “I had a group project with him once. We met here, with some reluctance.”

Wally knew what Artemis was talking about. Dick didn’t like people coming over because it put his identity on the line, and because, to people he wasn’t friends with, he hates flaunting his money. Even to his best friends, Dick only did it when they brought it up, and he never dwelled on it.

When they got to the door, they looked at each other. Knocking didn’t seem like a big deal until you are standing in front of a ten foot tall door.

“Very well.” Kaldur looked at M’gann, tapping his head. After she realized what he meant, she established the mind link. Kaldur raises his arm, and knocked.

“I’m afraid this is very much a bad time-“ the British voice cut off as he opened the door. “Who are you?”

“We are so sorry to intrude, but we need to talk to Mr. Wayne.” M’gann has gotten closer. “We are from the Justice League, and are here to help.”

“Very well, come in, come in.” As he ushered them in, he gave Wally a tight squeeze on his shoulder. A small gesture, but it was clear the intention. Alfred was hurting too.

“Alfred, who’s there? I thought we agreed not to let anyone in!” Rounding the corner was a sight for sore eyes. Bruce Wayne, the billionaire, playboy, known as Gotham’s “White Knight,” looked like… well, he looked like trash.

Well, trash is very generic. He was wearing sweatpants, but they looked like he hadn’t changed in days. They had stains, and tiny tears. Not enough to show skin, though. His shirt clung to his chest like he had been sweating crazily. He had a bruise on his arm, along with his jaw. His hair was greasy beyond imagination, like he hadn’t washed it in a week. The tousled mess of black seemed like it was a dying animal. There was stubble all over his face, dark enough that it was clear he hadn’t shaved for a while. His eyes were red, and there were bags under his eyes, black enough that they were comparable with his hair.

“Who are you?” he asked. He locked eyes with Wally. ‘Why did you bring them here?’

M’gann cleared her throat. “We are so sorry to bother you Mr. Wayne, but we were sent to help you! The Justice League left us to our own resources, so we figured here would be a good place to start.”

Bruce sighed, flopping into a chair. He webbed his fingers over his forehead, slouching so his neck was close to the seat.

“Sit, sit. I’ll be as much use as I can be.” Wally was surprised when Alfred didn’t correct Bruce. He guessed that Bruce was just that overwhelmed, and Alfred knew correcting him may not be the best thing.

As they sat down, M’gann leaned forward.

“Okay, Mr. Wayne. Let’s get right down to it. When was the last time you saw Richard?” Her serious tone had shocked all of them, even Connors eyebrows raised.

“Last week, Friday.” His answer was brief, but you could hear the sadness in it. This information made Wally feel… well, he felt guilty. It was Sunday, and he had had no idea about the disappearance of his friend! Jesus, he was supposed to be Wally West, best friend! All of his friends, his family, they knew that they were practically inseparable. Dick and Wally. Kid Flash and Robin!

“How do you know he wasn’t kidnapped?” Conner tone sounded resigned, but steady. M’gann gave him a look that said, ‘Be nice.’

“I checked the security cams.

“You have security cams in Di-“ Artemis changed her words quickly, “Graysons room?”

“Of course not!” Bruce’s tone made a few of them look sheepish, as if the idea was inconceivable. Ha. “I have Security cams in the hall and on the window outside. When I found him gone, with the window open, I checked. He had left with a small bag.”

“How long can he survive with that?” M’gann asked, and Wally thought she sounded genuinely worried. She probably was.

“If he packed what I think he did, probably a month at the least. But Dick is worth a lot of money.”

“What does that mean?” Conner’s eyebrows furrowed, making the black and blue compliment each other.

“He could get ambushed, bounty hunted, robbed, kidnapped and held for ransom, killed, ra-“

“So, the kid isn’t safe on his own.” Conner summed. What? M’gann still didn’t have internet!

“Ah, yes.”

“Do you have any idea where he went?” M’gann was leaning forward again. She looked like Dinah.

“No.” Bruce sighed. “But I wish I did. Dick isn’t that safe of a kid, though. And I still don’t know why he left!”

“Of course, of course.” M’gann leaned back, and Wally realized that she knew exactly what she was doing. Wally didn’t know what, but it was clear M’gann understood the use of the body language perfectly. “What happened on Saturday? Did Richard act strangely at all?”

“It’s Dick.”

Bruce and Wally stared at each other for a moment, having said the same thing. Oops.

“My apologies. Did Dick act strangely at all?”

“No. He came home, ate his din-“ 

“Ahem.”

“Right.” Bruce glanced at the Butler. “It would be better if Alfred told you, seeing as he was there.”

“And you weren’t?” M’gann’s simple question seemed dumb to Wally, but he didn’t say so. A glare from Bruce silenced them.

“Anyway,” the British butler pushed through the silence. “I picked Master Dick up from school, as always. As we drove back to the manor, I could hear him practically falling out of his seat from giggling. When asked, he waved a hand and said ‘texting a friend.’ I continued on my normal route, and when we got home, he went to do his homework immediately. He had dinner, by himself again, then he practiced basketball, and then went to sleep. Or, as close to going to sleep as a teenager gets.”

“Okay,” M’gann said slowly. “So you have basically no clue what happened and where he is?”

“Yes.”

“Well, okay. Thank you for your cooperation.” M’gann stood, and the rest of the team followed her out. 

“Where to next?” Conner asked.

“The only other person. Barbara Gordon.”


	2. Barbara Gordon Reveals TWO WHOLE SECRETS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The questioning of Bruce Wayne has left some questions unanswered. As the team travels to Barbara Gordon’s house, they get a few more answers, along with a few more questions.

Barbara Gordon’s house was halfway across town. Not a bad territory, but not a good territory, either. Wally didn’t understand how Dick was willing to go that far just to get to a friends house. Then again, Dick had to use the Zeta Tubes to get to Central City, to see Wally, so he couldn’t really judge.

Barbara lived in an apartment, on the third floor. ‘Room 31,’ Dick had always told him. ‘Can you believe she got room 31?’ He had said this because of the similarity between 31 and 13. Wally had told him that 31 wasn’t an unlucky number, but Dick insisted otherwise.

On the way to the apartment, they mulled over the information they had been given. Which, at first, seemed like none. When they talked it out, though, they realized that there had to be more of a reason he disappeared without a trace. That didn’t get them very far.

They spectated reasons why Dick, sorry, Grayson, would run away. Some said that ‘Wayne’ was abusive, some suggested a threat, and others suggested bullying. They didn’t settle by the time the reached Barbara’s house.

Knock, knock, knock. 

Barbara answered the door immediately. Her eyes lit up at first, than sank when she finished scanning them. 

“What do you want?” Barbara tossed a lock of fed hair over her shoulder. She was in much better shape then Bruce was in. She had an eye-matching blouse, green, with pearls lining the lace of the ends. She had a white undershirt underneath.

“Uh, we were sent from the Justice League. We’re here to see what you know about the disappearance of Richard Grayson.” It took a lot of Wally’s strength not to act like they had seen each other a million times.

“Dick? Oh, okay.” She looked skeptical. “Come on in.” Barbara gestured them in, sitting down last herself. Her green jeans folded, and barely reached the top of her red flats.

“So,” Wally began. “What do you know that may be useful in finding Grayson?”

“I don’t know… He wasn’t acting strangely that day…” Wally realized that Barbara had probably known on Saturday, which made Wally feel worse. Stop that, he told himself. You need to stay focused.

“Did Grayson have anything going on at all?” Wally asked. It was so weird to talk like this. “Anything?”

“No!” Barbara looked down. “Actually… there is something.”

Everyone’s heads shot up. A lead. Something to work with. 

“You can’t tell anyone I said this, though.”

Nods.

“You promise?”

Nods.

“Dick… Dick is Robin.”

Silence.

Wally heard a small gasp from M’gann. That was it, noise wise. He couldn’t believe that Barbara had said that. 

“I knew it.”

They all looked towards Artemis, surprised at this.

“I knew it. I knew he was Robin!” Artemis didn’t seem okay. “The picture, the weird looks, knowing that I lived in Gotham! I knew it!”

Barbara sighed, and got up. 

“You guys are lucky my dad isn’t here,” she said. She tore a sticky note, jotting something down, and sticking it to the fridge. “Stay here, I’ma go get something.”

She walked out of the room, and Wally was the first to talk.

“She’s right. I didn’t expect her to say it like that, but she’s right.” He took a breath. “You all know the reason Dick lives with Bruce and not his parents?”

Glances were exchanged. Everyone but Artemis shook their heads.

“So, Dick used to leave in the circus. All his life, he was trained to be the best of the best. ‘The Flying Graysons!’ Every show, they would perform without a net…”

Two nights in Gotham. They felt like they would last forever.

Dick didn’t really like Gotham. It was scary, and everyone was so serious.

A bad man had came the first night. He had talked to Pop Hailey. He had threatened him.

‘You need us, Hailey. Just 2,000!’

‘No.’

‘You’re gonna pay without protection. Maybe not physically, but mentally!’

Dick hadn’t said anything.

The first night, before the show, Dick saw a boy outside. He was looking at Dicks poster.

‘Hey.”

The boy jumped.

‘You’re in the photo!’

‘Yep. Are you watching us tonight?’

‘Yeah.’

Dick smiled.

‘You know, we’re the only family in the world that can perform a quadruple somersault flip.’

‘Really?’

‘Yep. Watch out for the finale.’

The boy had ran off, and Dick had smiled.

Maybe Gotham wasn’t so bad.

The next night, the bad man came back.

‘Acid.’

‘For what?’

‘The ropes.’

Dick had ran, crying. His parents found him. The wouldn’t listen, but at least he was calm by show time. Dick had felt very nervous, but when his parents asked him, he couldn’t say anything but that the bad man was back.

As Pop introduced them, Dick started to forget about his worries. Right now, stage fright was welling up inside him. All the way to the top, he told himself. It wouldn’t seem to bad once he was up there.

‘Now, the youngest of the flyers, at the age of eight, Dick Grayson!’

Dick ran out, waving and smiling. He started up the hundreds of feet of latter. Behind him, his uncle was getting called out.

When Dick reached the top, he stood with his family. He couldn’t wait to see them performing. He would join them at the end, just as he had last night. Before that, though, he would watch from the platform. Dick was content with this. His family was amazing at what they did, and watching them made Dick feel joy every time. 

The music came on, and his father took the bar. The cheers of the crowd made it hard to hear the music, but it was there. Bum ba dada dada bup ba da da DUT da dududu da da dadada…

Dicks mother grabbed the bar, and she swung after her husband. Each family member slowly moved forward, and Dick watched patiently. Then, the music changed. A light dance came on. Like feathers dancing around in the wind.

Dick moved forward. Music, cheers, laughter, it all rang out around him.

His mother swung towards him, and as her face came into view, time slowed down.

He saw everything at once. The rich man in the front seat, starting to move towards another man who was dangerously close to the ropes.

He saw the bad man, pouring something on to the ropes. It started to wear away. Dick didn’t understand, but he saw.

He saw his family, swinging back to meet him. Their faces were lit up with glee. 

He saw his mother's arms, reaching out towards him. He came forward, reaching out. Just a few more feet, and she would’ve been safe. She had been almost safe. Almost safe.

But almost didn’t stop what happened next.

The rope snapped, Dick screamed, his father did too. He had never heard his father scream before. Dick didn’t like the sound.

‘Dick!’

Then everything stopped. A sickening CRUNCH filled the air. Dick was climbing down. People were shoving to see, or get out. Children were crying. Everything was blurry, and hot, why was it so hot? People with white clothing came and took his family. His family. Why? What had happened? Would they be alright?

Somebody said something near Dick. They put a hand on Dick’s shoulder

Dad? That wasn’t dad. Dad was over there. What happened to dad?

They were taking Dick somewhere. Where? To mama? To papa?

This is a car. Mama told him. It’s like a train, but smaller and slower. This one smells weird.

They said something in English, but Dick didn’t hear them. Where were they driving him?

A white building. Like the people in white. Why did they like white so much? It reminded Dick of medicine. Mama took a little every day. She said it tasted awful.

Inside it smelled weird. Like a suffocating smell. Everything was white. He knew why they made it white now. It was to match the smell.

‘Mama!’

She was surrounded by people in white. She was very pale. She was staring at him, her gaze unfocused. She still had blood on her. 

Dick realized he had blood on his leotard too. He didn’t know how to get it out. He pushed against the people in white, trying to see his family.

‘Son, you need to come with us.’

That was Romani. His birth tongue. He turned to see an old man. 

‘Who are you?’

‘A friend.’

That was good enough for Dick. He followed the man, who brought him to a car. This one didn’t smell like white.

The man drove Dick to a giant building. 

‘This is where you live? Is it a mansion?’

The man laughed.

‘Not quite. It’s called an orphanage.’

That was a strange word. Dick went inside with the nice man, and waited in a dark room for awhile. Dick didn’t know how long he slept in the room, but when he woke up, a woman with black hair was waking him up. She said something in English, and Dick only understood the ‘go.’ She extended a hand, and Dick got up.

The woman said something else, and Dick heard the words ‘you,’ and ‘stay.’ He nodded, and lay down on one of the beds. The children around him were asleep, and Dick watched their chests rise and fall rhythmically. The silence was deafening, but it was better than noise.

Dick dreamed of his mother. She appeared as he had last seen her, staring into the distance, blood still on her leotard. 

‘Dick?’

‘Mama?’

She turned, smiling.

‘Hello, Dick. Come, walk with me.’

Dick ran after her, slowing when he caught up. 

‘Mama, where are we?’

‘Simple, little Robin. In your head.’

Dick gave her a quizzical look, and she laughed.

‘It means nothing, my bird. I have come to ask you something.’

‘What is it, mama?’

She turned to him, her eyes weren’t focused.

‘Why did you let me fall?’

She screamed, and Dick jumped back. She started falling, all over again, landing with a sickening crunch.

‘Mama!’

‘Dick?’

She sounded worried.

‘Mama?’

His mother was already facing him. Her face lit up. 

‘Hello, Dick. Come, walk with me.’

Dick ran to catch up with her. 

‘Mama, don’t fall.’

She laughed.

‘Oh Dick.’

‘Why are you laughing, mama?’

‘Because I already fell.’

She screamed, and Dick lunged for her, but she was too far. 

‘Mama!’

‘Richard…’

Mama?

Richard!

He gasped, waking up from the nightmare all to late. 

‘Richard, you (insert) up.’

She was speaking English. Why did everybody speak English?

As Dick got up, he realized that it was the same woman who has brought him in.

‘I… don’t… speck... English.’

‘You don’t speak English?’

Why was she repeating it? And did she have to talk so fast?

‘I… don’t… speck… English.’

‘Speak.’

Oh. It’s pronounced speak. Whatever.

The woman sighed, and said something else in English. She brought him out to the front office, which was basically empty. 

The woman said something to the receptionist, something about boy.

Dick was soon being led through the office. He was told something car, and they pointed to a car in front of him.

As Dick got inside, he wondered why, even though he had said that he didn’t speak English, the woman had continued to talk in English.

The driver said something.

‘I… don’t… speek… English.’

‘Speak?’

‘Yes.’

The driver nodded, but Dick didn’t like the look in his eyes.

‘I… speek… Romani.’

The driver looked back at him, and continued to drive. Words were said, but again, they were in English.

The driver pulled up to two story, square like house.

‘(Insert) Juvie.’ 

Dick didn’t bother giving a quizzical look. The chances he would get an answer were very low.

Inside of the building, people were bustling about. Dick tried to make himself smaller, but he still got bumped around.

The front desk was occupied by a tall, dark skinned woman.

‘(Insert), hello!’

‘Hello.’

The man talked to the woman for a while, and soon he was left alone with her.

‘I… speek… Romani.’

The woman gave him a look, and she brushed away his hair, saying something in English.

The woman took Dicks hand. Leading him towards a room, she started explaining things.

‘I… don’t… speek… English!’

‘Sorry, (insert)’

Her tone was kind, but she was still speaking in English.

They entered a big room, young kids having what looked like gross food. All of them were dressed the same.

‘Here, stay.’

Dick smiled at this. They were both words he knew, so it made it easy to obey the command.

‘Yes.’

The woman laughed a little, and then she left.

That was the last time someone was nice to him for a long time.

Dick did what all the others were doing, he got in line, got a tray, and got some food. He sat down alone, not wanting to have people yell in English at him.

That was when Dick realized he was still in his leotard. With blood on it. He would change tonight, of course, but it surprised him how he hadn’t noticed.

‘Hey!’

Dick looked up at the unkind shout. A tall boy was coming over, with two friends. A girl was next to him. She had long, black hair that was in dreads. A piercing was on her lip.

The boy yelled something in English, and all Dick could understand was the ‘what’ at the beginning of his sentence.

A question, Dick thought.

The girl said something that started with ‘awwww, he’s’

Dick looked between them. The boy made a motion with his hands.

The two back up one's approached. They were smaller, but their muscles were way bigger. One grabbed Dick by the back of his shirt, holding his arms behind him. The other punched Dick across the face.

Suddenly, everyone was watching.

‘Oooh, he’s a circus kid!’

Dick understood that.

‘Yes!’

The kids laughed. Apparently, this didn’t happen often.

Dick got punched again.

This went on for some time, but when a loud sound came, they all scattered, and were led to small rooms.

Dick barely slept that night. His face hurt, his arms were sore, and he was trapped in an unfamiliar place, without any possessions.

The next day, he was taken out of his room. They questioned him, what he knew about his parents murder, what had happened before hand, etcetera, etcetera. 

Lunch was the same, different English words he didn’t know, getting punched in new places.

This repeated for almost a month, and by this time, Dick had given up talking all together. He hadn’t talked since the third day. It had been the last day of questioning.

After almost a month, though, a man came in. The rich man in the front seat. Dick watched from his room. The man asked to see him. Him.

The door opened to his room a few minutes later, and Dick gathered his courage. He stood up, and the rich man came in with the woman.

Dick held out a hand.

Here goes, he thought.

‘Hello, my name is Dick Grayson. How are you?’

The rich man looked surprised, and so did the woman. Dicks voice was so hoarse, though, that is was hard to tell whether it was because of the language, or the sound.

‘Very good!’

The rich man sighed. Then he did something that surprised Dick. He spoke in Romani.

‘Hello, Dick. I am Bruce Wayne. I am good. How are you?’

Dick smiled. He hadn’t done that in a long time.

‘Feeling better.’

‘That’s good. I came by to ask if you would let me foster you?’

‘Now Dick...’

But Dick was already in the rich mans arms. 

Mr. Wayne said something to the woman, and she sighed. Mr. Wayne took Dick back to the office, and talked to the woman more. They traded papers, and Mr. Wayne wrote on a few.

The woman finally let Mr. Wayne go, and Dick followed him to a limousine. Mr. Wayne got in back with Dick.

‘Am I your son now?’

‘Not quite, champ. You see, these things take time, and I still have to finalize a lot of stuff. For now, we’re just seeing if this will work.’

‘If I may.’

Dicks head shot to look to the front. There, a posh, British man sat, driving.

‘Go ahead. Dick, this is Alfred.’

‘A pleasure to meet you, sir. While Master Bruce liked to explain it one way, I think mine does fine. You see, people want to make sure you have a good home. To ensure that, we must make sure that you’re happy with Master Bruce.’

‘Oh.’

Dick realized that they both had to know Romani to speak to him. It made Dick feel embarrassed.

‘Thank you, Alfred.’

‘My pleasure, Master Bruce.’

The rest of the ride was mostly quiet. When they pulled up to a house, Dick gasped.

‘Is that where you live?’

‘Where we live, Dick.’

Dick couldn’t believe it. Stepping out of the car, he came face to face with what had to be a mansion of at least twenty stories. It was huge!

Mr. Wayne led Dick inside, and showed him to his room. When Dick went inside, he was surprised to see everything he had owned and more. A giant bed lay in the middle of the room.

‘I’ll leave you to settling in.’

As the door closed, Dick flopped onto the bed. He curled up, and for the first time that month, he let himself wallow. He cried, he mourned, and he yelled. Mr. Wayne didn’t come in until after, and Dick was grateful. Mr. Wayne told him it was time for dinner.

‘Alfred will teach you proper English and manners. Once you can read and write, you can start school.’

Dick nodded, though he wasn’t very happy. He didn’t want to go to school. He had always been homeschooled, and that had been torture enough.

‘Come, sit.’

Dick sat down to eat, and audibly gasped.

‘This

Food

Is

Delicious.’

Mr. Wayne laughed, and Dick smiled. At least the outburst had done some good.

The are in moderate silence, and Dick basically inhaled the dinner. He hadn’t had real food in so long. 

After dinner, Mr. Wayne showed Dick to his room, which Dick had thanked him for. The house was so big, he didn’t know how he would manage with Mr. Wayne.

The next day, Dick found out. Mr. Wayne has left early for a meeting. Dick had gone to the breakfast table alone, and ate by himself. Alfred started immediately on teaching Dick, which had been incredibly hard for Dick.

English made no sense.

Mr. Wayne had been gone all day, so Dick had gone to sleep worried.

This went on for about a week. Dick barely saw Mr. Wayne. He made a lot of progress with his English, even though he was still confused about a few things. 

One night, Dick awoke from a nightmare screaming. He did that a lot now, actually. 

Dick had wandered the halls, which helped in giving him the lay of the manor. 

Dick had found a large room, which included a fireplace, a grandfather clock, a large portrait, and a few other items. Dick looked around, and decided to do something he hadn’t done in a while. 

He danced.

Ariels. Flips. Jeté. Leap. Split.

He did a fondue, and when he extended, he fell forward, onto the leg. He turned it into a spin, and suddenly he was doing tons of turns…

The edge of the rug stopped him, suddenly. He leapt forward, grasping the grandfather clock to keep himself from falling. Then, something happened.

The grandfather clock moved.

An elevator came into view, and Dick gasped. 

A bat.

A glowing, black bat symbol.

Of course, Dick went inside.

Now, Dick already had suspicions. He knew who Batman was. Half of the kids at Juvie had been there because eight him. But, Dick didn’t really know what he did.

When the door opened, so did Dicks mouth.

The place was huge. A giant t-Rex, a giant penny, giant computers…

And one, life sized, Batman.

The dark night turned to look at Dick, who could only think to say one thing.

‘The bat-cave is in actual cave, with bats.’

The caped crusader cracked a smile.

‘It sure is, Dick.’

He gestured for Dick to come closer, so he did.

‘Mr. Wayne?’

Batman froze a little.

‘Just Bruce, Dick. No need to be formal.’

Dick nodded.

‘I see your English has improved.’

‘Yeah! Alfred said at this rate, I can go this year!’

Bruce have a nod of approval, and Dick beamed.

‘You can’t tell anyone I’m Batman, Dick.’

‘Why would I do that?’

‘I do not know, but just in case, you have to promise me you won’t.’

‘Okay. I promise.’

‘Thank you.’

Dick was silent for a minute.

‘I get to join, right?’

‘What? No. It’s too dangerous, and you-‘

‘I want to.’

Dick took a breath. 

‘My parents were murdered. My cousin was murdered. Everyone I have ever loved was murdered right in front of me. I want to find the person who did it, and make them pay.’

Bruce sighed.

‘Dick, I’m sorry, but there is no way I could ever let you do that. It’s too dangerous. Now go back to bed.’

Dick frowned, then sighed.

He went up to Batman, hugged him, and said goodnight.

But not before seeing the name on the computer. 

‘Tony Zucco.’

Bruce was planning on ambushing in three days.

Dick could work with that.

That night, Dick didn’t sleep. He was busy sewing away, a costume the same style as his leotard. A domino mask, for his eyes. Finally, though, a cape.

Dick hid the costume, and tried to sleep.

It didn’t work to well.

The next day, he acting normal.

Same with the next.

And the next.

Things were a little different, now that he knew that Bruce was Batman. But hey, that was just how it was.

On the third night, Dick changed into the costume and headed for the docks. 

Tony Zucco was there.

Or rather, the bad man was there.

Dick watched carefully as the gang leader talked and talked about the murder.when he saw a shadow near him moving, Dick lunged.

It was surprisingly easy. Dick had grabbed a few knives, and so he used them. He had learned how to throw knives in the circus, along with a few other things.

From the shadows, a voice yelled something that sounded like ‘DIIIUUUK’

It was weird.

Dick pinned down gang members easily, but Tony Zucco was another story. The man picked up a knife and examined it.

‘You’re good, kid. Not the best, but good.’

‘I don’t need to be the best to kill you.’

Zucco looked up.

‘Listen, brat. You can’t kill me. You don’t have what it takes. And even if you did, you would hate it right after you did it.’

Dick lunged again.

He fought Zucco with no tact. Punching, kicking, flipping, stabbing. Soon, Dick had him by his shirt. Zucco was struggling, saying apologies as he looked down at the ocean below

‘I have what it takes.’

‘Please!’

‘I hate you.’

‘I’m sorry!’

‘You’re dying tonight.’

‘No.’

Dicks head snapped to Bruce.

‘Batman! Thank God.’

Dick have Zucco a quizzical look.

‘You shouldn’t be grateful just yet.’

‘Batman doesn’t kill, kid! I’m safe!’

Dick looked to Bruce.

‘What?’

‘Let him go.’

‘Batman-‘

‘Let him go.’

Dick sighed. He placed Zucco on the land.

‘I knew you couldn’t do it. Face it, kid. You’ll never kill.’

Dick waved a hand.

‘Take care of him. I’m going to sleep.’

‘We’re going to talk about this tomorrow.’

‘Yeah yeah.’

Then, Dick got an idea.

‘Hey, Zucco.’

‘What?’

‘Tell the prison, ‘Robin says hello.’

“... And from then on, Dick just kept getting better. Soon, he was at the level we know today.”

“Wow,” M’gann said.

“Yeah, my story is much more boring.”

They all turned to find black suited girl. Green eyes looked through the mask, sparkling like the gold on her chest. Red hair fell around her shoulders.

“Oh my god, your faces!”

“Who are you?” Conner asked.

“Why, I’m Barbara Gordon. But for this trip, you’re gonna need Batgirl.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finding out two Bat Family secrets, the full team starts on their quest, well...  
> Almost the full team.

As Barbara Gordon stood in her Batgirl costume, the team was really starting to rethink Robin’s choice in friends. Were all of them red headed superheroes?

“You’re going to need me too,” a resigned voice said from the window.

As they turned, Wally sped towards the new addition. 

“Roy!”

“Yep. I’m here.” The older archer sighed. “I’m tired, sore, avoiding my supposed dad, and here.”

“Why are you avoiding Oliver?” Barbara asked, helping Roy down.

“Because he’s a jerk who I just happen to be connected to.”

“Fair enough.”

“So,” Artemis said. “Now that the whole gang’s here, how about we head out before Daddy Commissioner comes home?”

“She’s right. We should go.” Bargirl pulled out a grappling hook and shot it through the window.

“Are you serious? I just came through there!” Roy slung an arrow and shot it, before taking a good stance and following the line. 

As they all took their own route to the rooftop, Batgirl turned to M’gann.

“Call the ship.”

“What?” M’gann asked.

“Your bioship?” Batgirl rolled her eyes. “You know the one that you are connected too?”

“Oh.” M’gann blushed. “I-I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“We came here via Zeta Tubes,” she explained, feeling like she was being scrutinized by Batgirl.

“Okay. To the Zeta Tubes.” She glanced at them. “Try to keep up.”

At first, the team did fine with Batbirls pace. Sure, she was a little ahead of them, but they could still see her. 

Then Batgirl disappeared.

The team tried their best to keep going, but by the time they were at the Zeta Tubes, Batgirl looked like she had been there for hours.

“Finally.” She gestured below. “Let’s go. We don’t have forever.” 

As they stood for scanning, Batgirl disappeared again. When she came back, she looked disheveled, and had a bit of blood on her cheek.

Roy stepped through, and Batgirl went after him. Then, just like that, they were in the mountain. 

“Cool.” Batgirl let herself have a good look around, before ushering the team to get to the bioship. “Let’s go, let’s go! Thirteen year-old in danger here!”

As M’gann awoke the bioship, Batgirl has to let herself stare at it. It was a beautiful transformation, and Batgirl probably wouldn’t be able to see it again for a while.

Then, she ran on to the ship.

As the ship adjusted for the passengers, Batgirl urged M’gann to start flying.

“Where are we going?”

“I…” Barbara stopped. She didn’t know. She pulled out a tiny contraption that expanded into a map. The main place that she thought of Dick going to was Hailey’s Circus. It was currently in Madagascar. No way they would make it in time. The next spot though…

“We’re going to Pretoria, Gauteng. It’s the next spot on the Hailey Circus tour.”

“Got it,” M’gann said. “When do we have to be there?”

“Less than a week.”

“Okay.”

As they flew through the skies, Batgirl watched them each drop off. Babs hadn’t slept since Dick had disappeared. She had stayed up each night trying to find him.

“It’ll be okay, Babs.”

Barbara looked over at Roy.

“How do you know?” She spread her arms. “Look at where we are. Dick could be anywhere in the world, and we are just a team of teenagers that have a little evidence.”

“Why do you think he did it?”

“Ran away?”

“Yeah.”

Barbara shrugged. 

“I don’t know. And that bugs me, Roy. Dick always knew everything about me, and I don’t even know this major thing about him.”

Roy was quiet for a minute.

“He doesn’t know everything about you.”

Babs looked at him, partially in disbelief, partially in curiosity.

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” Roy started. “He didn’t know what your favorite thing to do by yourself was. He didn’t know who your best friend was, other than himself. He didn’t know what languages you spoke…”

Babs mulled over it. She hadn’t ever told Dick any of that, she just assumed he knew.

“Okay,” Babs said. “So, why did he leave home?”

“Why didn’t he?”

“What?”

Roy shrugged. “Think of things that aren’t the reason Dick ran away.”

Babs nodded.

“It wasn’t because Bruce was being abusive.” Babs thought for a second. “But… they may have had a fight!”

“Maybe. What was on Dicks mind that day?”

“Oh, he felt like trash.” Babs paused, thinking on whether or not to elaborate. “He didn’t really want to go out as Robin, and was hoping Bruce would let him stay home.”

Roy sighed. “So that can’t be it then. Bruce had to have let Dick stay home, because Bruce was out when Dick left.”

Barbara looked down.

“Another dead end, then.” She flicked apart of her hair away from her face. “Air wasn’t a threat, though. Dick is to good at what he does to get threatened enough to force him away.”

“What about a coaxing?” Roy asked her. “Like, somebody would give him something if he left.”

“Like a mad scientist offering his parents?” Barbara shook her head. “What could Dick want? He has basically everything now. He’s come to terms with their death.”

“His uncle!” Roy held his head for a second after sitting up to fast. “His uncle Rick. He’s still alive, but comatose.”

Babs eyes widened. “Your right! But…”

Roy looked over at her. “But?”

“Who would want to do that?” Babs hadn’t wanted to bring it up, but they would need to talk about it eventually. “Who would want to do that? What purpose does it serve?”

“Messes up Batman,” Roy offered. “If the person knows about it…”

“Yeah, but how long can you keep Dick from coming home?” Babs arms flailed desperately. Roy thought she looked exhausted, and they hadn’t even started the mission. 

“Sleep on it.”

“What?! How can you be thinking of sleep!”

“By looking at your eyes. Now go to sleep.

Barbara sighed. She leaned back, and a bed shifted into reality around her. Roy did the same.

 

“Come in, Star Pihs. Come in. Over”

“Star Pihs, here. Who is this? Over.”

“Thank you Star Pihs. This is Justice League HQ. Please give your status. Over.”

“This is Star Pihs. Hello HQ. We are currently passing planet OE29-JJ3. We are doing well. No sign of enemies yet, except the ones in my head, right HQ? Over.”

“This is HQ. Please keep things professional Star Pihs. We are updating status now. Anything else? Over.”

“This is Star Pihs. Not a thing, HQ. But, our next check is in fifteen. Why the time change? Over.”

“This is HQ. We have heard news that your mission might be compromised. Please keep on the lookout. When you get back, you will be assigned a very recent mission. Would you like to hear it? Over.”

“This is Star Pihs. Of course we would like to hear it! Over.”

“This is HQ. Please keep a professional demeanor Star Pihs. Your mission is to find a runaway child by the name of Richard Grayson. The rest of your old team is already working on this. Over.”

“This is Star Pihs. Do you mean Richard Grayson as in Dick Grayson? As in the Dick Grayson? Over.”

“This is HQ. Yes, Star Pihs. We do mean the Dick Grayson. Any other questions? Over.”

“This is Star Pihs. We have no more questions. Over.”

“This is HQ. Thank you Star Pihs. Over and out.”

They giggled.

“‘This is HQ. Please keep things professional.’” More giggles. “They really do need to learn how to loosen up.”

“I still can’t believe the rest of the team gets to work to find Dick Grayson. Have you seen him?”

“Hold up, hold up. I thought you had a thing for Robin? What about deep and mysterious boys?”

“Robin doesn’t have beautiful, blue eyes I can swim in.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes I do! Robin totally is brown eyed.”

“You’ve seen him without his glasses?”

“No.”

They laughed. 

“You know, space is really boring.”

“Emoceb sell gnirob.”

Lights appeared in front of them.

“Wow. That looks… amazing.”

“Right? I think I outdid myself.”

“Oh, you definitely did, Zee.”

Zatanna laughed at her partners response.

“Hey! This isn’t easy, you know. It takes effort.”

“Ya, so does flying around in a purple bubble, but I don’t complain.”

“At least you get a cool name!” Zatanna complained.

“Yeah, which means nothing apparently. Imagine me finding out I’m going to be in a spaceship. Specifically. Not a rocket, but a spaceship.”

“Oh, hush. We got a cool code name.”

Raquel rolled her eyes, sitting back in the black chairs.

“It is a cool spaceship.”

Zatanna nodded.

“So… why is Robin brown eyed?”

Zatanna's eyes lit up.

“Well, you see, blue eyed people are way more eccentric, I’ve found. At least when they’re thirteen. And when I picture him without his glasses, I just immediately picture brown eyes. Always have.” She could tell Raquel wasn’t really listening. “Why? How do you picture him?”

“Green. Like Harry Potter.”

“Oh my gosh, that would make Wally Ron!”

“Wait,” Rocket stopped for a second. “Who would be Hermione?”

They looked at each other.

“Artemis.”

“Okay,” Zatanna stopped giggling enough to speak. “Who’s Draco?”

“Oooh. How about…”

“Kaldur.”

Raquel slapped Zatanna.

“What? He’s the only one we know who could work! He would just be more mellow.”

There was silence for a minute, just the lights out in space that Zatanna has conjured.

“Is Viktor like Connor or something?”

“I guess,” Zatanna said. 

“What would that make M-“

“LOOK!”

They both turned to the space before them, finding that there was a type of heist going on. They sped up.

Zatanna reached over the controls, flipping a switch.

“Come in, HQ. This is Star Pihs. Come in. Over.”

A pause, then static come on.

“This is HQ. Star Pihs, status report. Over.”

“This is Star Pihs. We are currently engaging in a heist that seems to be going unnoticed. Rocket is handling most of the controls. Over.”

“This is HQ. Please proceed regular protocol, and give a status report when done. Should we send back up? Over.”

“This is Star Pihs. No back up needed. See ya later, HQ. Over and out.”

Zatanna strapped an oxygen mask to her face.

“I’m going out. These controls make more sense to me then your rock.”

“Oh shut up! It’s science, ok?”

“Science you can’t explain.”

“I repeat, oh shut up!”

“I’m a magician, remember? Part of my job is to talk.”

“Well, do it outside, where I can’t hear you.”

Zatanna opened the first door. After going through it, she closed it behind her. Then, and only then, could she open the second door. The suction pulled her out, but soon she couldn’t feel anything. Eyeing the chase, Zatanna thought of a spell.

“Deeps pu.”

She rocketed forward, yes, she made that joke. It was startling how quick she could go, and in space nonetheless.

When she got near, then thought for a second.

What would work?

Well, it was a heist. She should probably figure out what it was they were stealing.

“Emoc nelots meti.”

The alien yelled as a bright colored… thing flew into her hand.

Both of the aliens looked at her, and changed their direction of the two ships. The alien who had been paying for the object turned towards Zatanna, while the other one turned to speed away.

She stuffed it in her pocket.

“Deeps pu.”

As Zatanna flew towards the fleeing alien, who reminded her of a frog, she placed a hand to her ear.

“Rocket.”

“Ya, ZeeZee?

“I told you not to call me that. You got my back?”

“Well, of course!”

“Great. Try not to hit me.”

Zatanna let her hand fall, and she realized she had barely gained on the other ship.

“Restaf.”

As the ship drew closer, a laser shot past her face, making her hair move, before it was shot into oblivion by another one.

“I GOT IT!”

Zatanna rolled her eyes. Rocket sure was a good shot.

She hoped.

Zatanna got closer to the ship, and decided to ease up.

“Rewols.”

After a thought…

“Eit eht htiw elbakaerbnu epor.”

As bonds encased the alien, she had to stop with another spell. She lifted him out of the ship, and remembered that there was someone shooting at her.

Oops.

“Ylf.”

As Zatanna evaded the ship, she managed to get close enough to her own ship to open and close the first door.

“Pots.”

She opened the second door and set the alien down. Tearing off the oxygen mask, she approached Rocket.

“How’s he doing?”

Rocket flipped a seemingly random switch.

“Not so good. Just sent out the net.” She glanced back. “How’s yours?”

“Tied,” Zatanna answered. “God, he doesn’t want to go quietly.”

“Yep.” Rocket pressed a button. “Don’t kill us. I’ll be back.”

Zatanna huffed at this, but watched her go silently. When rocket got back, the alien was tied and asleep.

“Wouldn’t stop struggling. They would’ve hurt themselves.”

Zatanna nodded, then turned to the other alien.

“Hey, you!

They looked up.

“Can you speak English?”

“Ian tay uinselk poltyion.”

“Try again.”

“Yes. But you should know more than English.”

Zatanna brushed hair off of her shoulder.

“I can speak any language after only a few words. My friend, however, can’t.”

The alien rolled its eyes.

“Whatever. Listen, if you could let me go, that would be great. This was supposed to be my last deal.”

“Too bad you got caught.”

The alien sighed.

“Don’t,” Zatanna warned. “No, ‘I have a wife! Kids!’ I’m not in the mood for a suck up.” She glanced at Rocket. “But Rocket over there might be.”

Rocket took this is a cue to glow and roll her neck. The alien swallowed.

“That’s not- that’s not what I was going to say! Uh…” They glanced at Rocket. “Um… what kind of questions should I answer?”

Zatanna smiled, sweetly but also obviously forced. She was trying to be intimidating.

“What is it that you were dealing?”

“A- a fifty dollar statue of an ancient god. She worships it, though I don’t know why..”

Zatanna sighed.

“Llet eht hturt.”

“It is a priceless artifact made by a dead painter and actor who was all powerful. The artifact is believed to have some kind of powers.”

The alien stared at Zatanna, and she heard Raquel giggling.

“Let’s just get to the point,” Zatanna said. “What’s your name?”

“Eizenhower Snitchen.”

“Your partner?”

“Gkloc Tysoan.”

“Thank you.”

Zatanna crossed the ship. She flicked the radio switch.

“HQ, this is Star Pihs. Come in HQ, over.

“Hello Star Pihs, this is HQ. What is your status? Over.”

“This is Star Pihs. We have caught the targets. They go by the names Eizenhower Snitchen and Gkloc Tysoan. What is the nearest place to drop them off at? Over.”

“This is HQ. The nearest is a plant 3847984874675 kilometers away. Sending coordinates. Over.”

“This is Star Pihs. Coordinates received. Thank you. Over.”

 

“This is HQ. No problem. Come home safe. Over and out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really a filler chapter, and I needed to do this before someone pointed it out.


	4. Chapter 4

It took two days to get to Pretoria. Two very long days. The morning after the got on the plane, they found Batgirl already awake, dealing with a cut on her cheek, sitting in her civvies. Her hair was already brushed, the object used for that a couple feet away. Wally sped over.

“How did you get that cut?” he asked. “A fight with a raccoon?”

“Close,” Batgirl chuckled. “There was a robbery nearby. Batman was too far to get to it in time. Decided to deal with it myself.”

Wally nodded. He wanted to ask her something, but was trying to push it from his mind.

“How long have you been up?”

“Since 3 AM.” Wally’s eyes widened. “I had to do my exercises.”

“Yeah, right.” Artemis was apparently up too. “You were up looking for Dick.”

Artemis and Batgirl held each other's gaze for a second. It was simultaneously the most terrifying and amazing thing Wally had ever seen. 

“Ooookay. Let’s try and keep the peace here.”

Wally regretted it almost immediately. They turned their eyes to Wally almost in unison, and Wally would always be thankful that Roy intervened.

“Aww, don’t fry the poor kid.” Well, maybe not all that thankful. 

“You’re never any fun,” Barbara said, glaring at the older boy. “He asked for it, anyway.”

“I think he just doesn’t quite grasp you and Artemis’ dynamic yet. What you see as a staring contest comprised of ‘no I didn’t’ and ‘yes you did,’ Wally sees the start of attempted murder.”

Roy got elbowed. By three elbows.

“Moving on,” Roy pressed. “What did you find in you five hours of bird searching?”

Five hours? That meant it was eight! Wally never woke up that early. Wally didn’t even know that the sun was up this early.

“Not much. There is barely any trace of him anywhere.” Batgirl sighed. “Plenty of Robin sightings, although half of them were false alarms and the other half Gotham.”

“Are we sure he isn’t in Gotham, then?” Wally knew it was a stupid question, but hey, it was worth note.

“If Dick was anywhere in the city, Bruce would know.” Batgirl ran a hand through her red hair. “Hailey's Circus is still our best shot.”

“What’s our second best?” Artemis asked. She had moved to sit down, taking out her arrows and starting to sharpen them.

“Jamaica.”

Roy and Artemis looked at the other two weirdly for saying it unison. Wally blushed as Batgirl turned to look at him.

“What’s your reasoning?”

“That’s where his uncle Rick is in the hospital. And he’s one of the only people of Dicks family that’s alive,” Wally hesitated with a lot of words, but that didn’t stop Barbara from continuing to question him.

“What do you mean? Who else is still alive?” This was when Wally realized his mistake. Dick didn’t like telling people about his cousin and his parents. They were criminals, and acknowledging it was something Dick liked to avoid.

“Well?” Artemis asked.

“It’s… a sensitive subject… Dick doesn’t really like to talk about it…” Wally was really struggling, but Batgirl didn’t seem too keen to let up.

“And I know a very sensitive spot that I can knee.” Batgirl flicked a little hair over her shoulder. “Tell me.”

“His uncle, George, is still alive…” At Batgirl's face, Wally quickly went on. “But he hates him! He attempted to take him away from Bruce and then sell Dick back!” Wally was really hoping that he wouldn’t cause too much alarm.

“Well, do we know where he is?” Artemis asked. The red heads didn’t seem inclined to speak, and Wally just shook his head. 

“Good morning, my friends.” Kaldur walked across the bioship, starting to press a few buttons. 

“Good morning, Kaldur,” Barbara responded.

“It really is weird that you know all our names…” muttered Artemis. Babs shrugged.

“I figured out Dick was Robin around two years ago, about the same time I became Batgirl. I met Wally a couple months later…”

(Flashback again! I mean, technically we were already flashbacking… argh.)

“If he flirts with me, I’m punching him.”

“And I’m laughing as you punch him.”

“I swear, sometimes I think you really are the devil incarnate.”

“Sometimes? You wound me, Babs.”

Woosh. 

“Ooh, Dick may have ranted about how pretty you were, but I didn’t believe him!”

Dicks laughter echoed through the cave as Barbara swung her arm. She then turned to Dick.

“‘Ranted about how pretty you were?’ When was this?” Barbara asked.

“I hadn’t slept in four days and you had just captioned a selfie on Instagram with ‘Ugh, I look absolutely disgusting!’”

Barbara nodded.

“I met Roy a couple days later…”

“Let me stand on your shoulders.”

“What? No!”

“Do you wanna flip up there? We have to get it down before Bruce comes back, and neither of us are tall enough! Now, crouch!”

Dick huffed.

“I’d rather flip.”

Barbara rolled her eyes. She motioned with her hand for Dick to go.

Dick flipped onto the first shelf, hit his head, then fell back.

That’s right. Shelf.

They were currently trying to get a copy of Teen Magazine from many years ago that was located on the top shelf.

One starring Bruce.

“Listen, if we want the blackmail, you need to let me stand on your shoulders,” Barbara said, hefting Dick up from his spot on the floor.

“Fine,” Dick sighed

As Dick crouched down, Barbara put a steady ankle onto one shoulder. After letting Dick clasp her ankle, she jumped slightly to get her other foot on his other shoulder. As Dick started to stand up, Babs started getting unstable, using the shelf to stable herself.

She had to let go for a second to grab the magazine, but that’s all gravity needed.

Babs fell backwards a little, then lunged forward to even the weighty, but Dick was already flailing backwards, taking his hands off of Barbara’s ankles. Babs twisted around to try and land right,but her foot got caught on the shelf, sending her to tackle Dick.

“Ooooow.”

“...got it.”

Then, a new voice entered.

“Jeez, Dick. You told me you two were close, but I didn’t think you were this close.”

“Shut up, Roy.” A blushing Dick pushed Barbara off of his body. “You know Bruce doesn’t like it when you sneak into the Batcave.”

“Then I met Kaldur, but he didn’t know it was me.”

“Look out, Robin!” Barbara was trying to help, but it was hard when she was a civilian.

“May I?” a calm voice asked. Barbara turned to find Aqualad gesturing his water bearers to the ground underneath her.

“Oh! Of course.” Babs tried not to act suspicious. She could practically hear Dick laughing at her in the back of her mind.

“Thank you,” Aqualad said, floating Barbara away on water.

“Dick joined the team soon after, and I never formally met Conner, but he did tell me about him. Same with M’gann, Zatanna, and Rauquel. I did meet Artemis, but that was after she joined the team.”

Babs narrowed her eyes as Dick walked towards her, eyes glued to his phone.

“Dick, who was that?”

Dick laughed dismissively.

“No one, Barbara!”

She didn’t let it go.

After first period, she cornered the blonde who Dick had taken a picture of.

“Woah, calm down, red. I don’t want trouble.” She wasn’t intimidated, and that angered Babs a little. More like frustrated, actually.

“Who are you?”

“My name's Artemis…” Met with silence, Artemis continued: “Artemis Crock.”

As the name clicked into memory, Barbara leaned away, trying to make Artemis more comfortable.

“Nice, Artemis is one of my favorite goddesses. My names Barbara.”

“Oh, the freshman’s friend?”

“Yeah. Dick.”

Artemis leaned back. 

“Excuse me?”

Barbara sighed.

“That’s his name. His real names Richard, but he prefers Dick.”

“Oh.”

“So yeah. I mean, there was that and Bruce made me read every personal file on the Batcomputer.”

“That means…?” Artemis asked.

“I have basically every fact about you memorized.”

“Wow,” Artemis said. The other two already knew these things, but it did give a little shock when you were reminded.

“So,” Batgirl said, standing up. “Who wants to spar?”

“Oooh, me.” Roy stood straighter. “I’m still half asleep so-“

Batgirl swept under Roy, causing him to fall over.

“Rule number 45, Roy.”

“Always be prepared.” Roy sighed as Barbara hefted him up.

“Again.”

Batgirl flipped over Roy, grabbing onto his shoulders to flip him. He landed fine, but his legs were straight, making it easy for Batgirl to push him to the floor.

“Land with bent knees.”

“I know.”

“Can I try?” Artemis asked, holding up a hand.

“Sure,” Batgirl said, gesturing to the ground in front of her. Artemis got up, and stood ready in front of Batgirl, who stood casually a few feet away.

“Uh, are you ready?”

“Roy, whats rule number 294?”

“Always take advantage of your enemies when they show weakness,” Roy answered in a monotone.

“Okay…” Artemis rolled forward, planted a food down, then swept at Barbara’s feet.

The redhead jumped, crouched after hitting the floor, and grabbed Artemis’ foot. After a little twisting, Artemis lay chest down on the ground, Batgirls leg pushing into her back.

“Rule number 167?”

“Never underestimate your opponent.”

Artemis growled. Flipping over, she grabbed Batgirls leg. No going easy.

She hefted herself up, spinning Barbara, Artemis held onto her leg and grabbed the others arm. The archer than pressed her against the wall.

There was quiet for a second.

“Roy, whats rule number 28?” It was a gamble, but Artemis wanted a win.

“Always use code names on the battlefield.”

Batgirl sighed.

“It’s never use civilian names on the battlefield.”

“Close enough.”

A little ways away, Kaldur and Conner were talking quietly.

“Is M’gann still asleep?” Kaldur asked him.

“Yeah.” Conner sighed. “Wait… do you hear that?”

“My friend, I think you should know by now that I do not hear what you do.”

“No, wait. It’s like… a meowing sound…”

A cat appeared suddenly on Conners shoulder, and he swatted it away immediately.

Lightly.

The cat jumped onto his head, meowing all the while shaking its collar. 

Kaldur slowly reached out to the cat, taking a slip of paper off of the collar.

“It says, ‘I will help all I can. The cats are your friends.’” Kaldur read. Conner and him looked at each other.

“Woah,” Artemis said, pointing at them suddenly. “That’s a cat.”

“No,” Conner said monotonously. “That’s a dolphin.”

As the the team gaped, Batgirl ran forward to read the note.

“Do you know who sent it, Barbara?” Kaldur asked, refocusing.

“Of course I do,” Batgirl said. “Catwoman. She can’t be here, because she doesn’t really like leaving Gotham, but she is offering as much of an alliance as she can.”

“Wait,” said Conner. “I thought Catwoman was a criminal?”

“Oh, she is. But when someone hurts her favorite bird..” Batgirl tisked.

“If she isn’t here, then how can she-“

The bioship shook.

The teenagers ran towards M’gann. She was screaming, a blood curdling scream.

When they got there, she was writhing in her seat, the plane shaking and starting to tilt downwards. Her eyes were shut right, and her skin was starting to turn white.

“Stay back!” Batgirl ordered. She ran forward, taking out a needle and inserting it into the Martians skin. Barbara placed a hand onto M’ganns neck for a second. 

M’gann stopped screaming, her body stilling.

Batgirl, after having stopped the plane from crashing, passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Fourth of July! Or not, if you don’t live in America...
> 
> Ahh, how I envy thee...
> 
> What? I’m patriotic.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first look at our little bird

The team was silent for a long time. Well, it only seemed long. Really? It was five seconds.

Roy moved towards Barbara, picking her up bridal style and walking her into the small med bay behind them.

As Roy’s footsteps receded, M’gann groaned.

“Are you okay?” Conner asked, helping her up. “What happened?”

“I was searching for Robin mentally, any traces of him…” M’gann groaned. “Suddenly I felt this, this terrible essence. When I tried to contact it…” She felt back a little, her eyes fluttering.

“Woah, take it easy, you have time.” Conner was being as gentle as possible, his hands carefully supporting her, his eyes filled with worry.

“I’m fine, Conner.” M’gann took a breath. “When I tried to contact it, it drew into itself, but I showed some vulnerability, conveying that I just wanted to find a friend.

“It expanded. Very suddenly. It was so much raw power that I had to protect myself with basically all of the strength I had. It showed me things, images. They were mostly of Robin, or from his point of view. What I didn’t know was that with each image it started leaking into my head. Before I knew it, it was attacking me full force, ripping my very soul apart as I struggled… then Batgirl woke me up.”

Barbara sat up, groaning as Roy tried to force her back down.

“W-what happened?”

As they all rushed over, Barbara seemed to regain her memory. Keyword seemed.

“Should I have done that?”

“Probably not,” Roy answered, finally forcing her back down. “Rest, you’re one of our most important members. We need you in working shape.”

“Thanks, I’m feeling the love.”

As Barbara laid back down, M’gann gave her a summary of what had happened. Every word was taken in, but not by Batgirl.

—————————————————-

“I told you they would come for me.”

“Quiet, child! We will deal with this the proper way.”

“Please don’t hurt them.”

Snap

“Why? Are they more important than your family?”

“No!”

“This is the life that your parents wanted for you. Do you dare go against their wishes?”

“No.”

“Then quiet!”

“Please, M’gann. Tell me you found something with that?”

“I’m sorry, Barbara. We’re still at zero.”

“Then we continue on our path to Africa. If they think a little telepathic torture will stop us, they’re in for a rude awakening.”

“Do you know what you need to do, child?”

“Please-“

“Do you know what you need to do?!”

“Yes, uncle.”

“Then I leave you.”

As George disappeared from the maze, Dick turned to the alien that stood beside him.

“Please don’t hurt her.”

“You know I’m not supposed to talk directly to you. Especially unsupervised.”

“Wait, what about the rhyme?”

“Oh, don’t give me that.”

The telepath disappeared, and Dick went back to wondering.

It was terrible. The maze tricked and spun. It scared him, in more ways than one.

First he would see a dead Roy, then Roy would be yelling at him for leaving.

He didn’t have a choice.

There was never a choice with them.

What was a choice? Did it have a voice?

Choice, voice, choice, voice, choice-

Focus!

Dick was to wait until the team returned to Gotham. They were going on a wild goose chase, and would eventually need to realize that. As they searched, Dick would train. 

Train. Rain. Sane.

Insane.

Slain! Insane. Rain, insane!

Stop!

Pop, lock, shock…

Clear. Dick had to clear. Everything had to clear. Head, said, bed…

Why could he speak fine?

Think, shrink, link…

Jamaica link.

Sink.

Dick snapped his fingers, running to the wall.

“Sink.”

It appeared.

Seared, mirrored, leared…

“Paper, pen.”

Dick grabbed them, writing the small message.

Speed. Keyed. Seed. Need.

GoTHaM

Dick kissed the paper, placing it into the sink.

“Get it to Jamaica. Safely.”

Dick watched it disappear.

Fear. Smear.

“Dick!”

He turned. A woman stood there.

She had blonde hair and green eyes. A bow was slung over her shoulder.

“Who are you?”

Who, hoo. Hoo hoo. Owl. Cowl. Prowl.

“Artemis! God, you look so young.”

God. Todd. Cod.

“Artemis? But… you’re headed towards Africa…”

“I flew to Africa years ago. Don’t you remember?”

Dick shook his head. Shook. Look. Nook. Cook.

“I died there. I died looking for you. How long have you been thirteen, Dick?”

“I-“

“You’re trapped. Living in the past. You never could move on. Just like your pretend father.”

“Bruce isn’t pretend!”

“Oh? You think you would find someone so alike to you, but that… wise? Rich?”

He was at a loss. Was Bruce real? Real, teal, seal.

“Face it, Dick. Your whole world is made up of you not being able to face the real one.”

“No!”

“Yes.”

“No!”

No. He cried. Snied. Lied.

He cried, and lied, and tied…

He wrists were tied in bonds, a gag in his mouth. His legs and chest tied to the chair.

Chair, fair, hair. Hair pulled back. Back, yak, 

Smack smack smack.

Dick cried out. It was Bruce. Bruce…

“I am as real you’re pretend father, Dick. Push past it. See me.”

Dick rolled back, the chair and rope disappearing like cotton candy. He was running, turning corners to get away.

To much maze. Gaze. Faze. Taze.

An electric feeling went through his body, and he fell to the floor, suddenly in his costume. The cape was draped over him.

“Get him,” said the police officer.

He was in a cell. Cell, well, chelllllloooo.

There was a mirror. He was wearing the mask. Mask, task, ask, caskkkkket.

He looked over the bronze casket. Wally lay inside. 

Wally opened his eyes, his arm snapping out to Dicks neck.

“You let me die. Now I will watch you die.”

Die, death, Seth, meth.

Puffs of air protruded from Diana’s mouth.

“We all went downhill after you left, Dick. Now, the world is gone. Everything is in flames. Gotham is the only thing that still stands.”

Gotham. Got ham. Ham, Sam, lamb.

“Jesus is the lamb of God. We thought he would always help, but he left, willingly, leaving us to the cruel world.”

World, swirled, curled.

“The baby is curled up, fast asleep.”

Barbara plopped down next to Dick.

“It’s to bad they’ll miss this.”

A shot rang out, shout, mount…

Dick mount the elephant slowly. Zikta suddenly cried out, though, startling him. Everywhere he was touching, purple tendrils grew into her blood.

“Murderer!”

Dead.

Dead.

All of them, dead.

They still stand.

United, listening, strong.

They are good. They are evil. They are what the world needs. What Gotham needs.

He held out his hand.

“Beware The Court of Owls,”

George smiled.

“That watches all the time,”

Dick felt the white mask.

“Ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch,”

The telepath stood, shocked.

“Behind granite and lime.” 

Dick found the elastic band.

“They watch you at your hearth,”

They had broken him.

“They watch you in your bed,”

They had broken Robin.

“Speak not a whispered word of them”

He put the mask on.

“Or they’ll send the Talon for your head.”


	6. Chapter 6

**I am so sorry, but the chapter won’t be up until later!**

**My device is totally glitching out. It won’t let me post the chapter with the space between paragraphs. So until I have it fixed, I can’t post anything.**

**Hopefully the chapter will be up by the end of the day. If not, I may just post it without the spaces and hope for the next chapter to be different!**

**Thank you all so much for the support! See you later!**

**-DGI**


	7. Chapter 7

The day after M'gann’s psyche got attacked was not a fun one.

 

There was nothing to do, as Wally stated helpfully every few minutes. All there was was a ship and sky. If it wasn’t for the beautiful invention of IPhone, they would’ve all been long gone into boredom.

 

Batgirl trained relentlessly. None of them saw her sleep. During the day, she trained, worked on her costume and gadgets, and searched for Robin.

 

During the night, she flew the ship, saying that it was too dangerous to navigate in sleep or use autopilot, and that M’gann needed to rest.

 

They all did.

 

None of them chose to comment on her training. They would be in Pretoria soon. 

 

Batgirl was definitely skilled, they all learned. Not skilled enough to beat any of them, or a major villain, but definitely skilled.

 

She flipped and kicked and punch like she would die if she stopped. There was no light in her eyes, like they had seen the day before. Just cold wanting to hurt. To capture.

 

To complete.

 

The rest of the team was worried, but didn’t say so. They had their own problems.

 

M’gann could still feel the dark presence. She would close her eyes only to open them as it lashed at her. She hadn’t slept that night. She wondered if she could. 

 

M’gann could feel it everywhere. It whispered to her when she trained with Batgirl.

 

Let her over power you, it would say. You don’t want to hurt her. You want to hurt yourself.

 

It scared her.

 

Conner was worried about M’gann. He was worried about Batgirl. He was worried about Roy, Wally, Kaldur, Artemis. He was worried about Robin.

 

Even after knowing his name, Conner thought of him as Robin. That’s who he was. Dick was something other people called him.

 

Conner could see his team breaking apart. Holding false hope that Robin would be there. That Robin would be performing, or sitting on the sidelines, or even watching. They just wanted him there.

 

But what if he wasn’t? They would go to Jamaica, yes, but what if they couldn’t find him? They would go home, wouldn’t they? Would they keep fighting? Or would they fall apart, moving to their own places to treat the hurt of loss.

 

Robin was important. He was a light. He had a plan. He improvised. He was serious, he would mess around. He was a balance.

 

But now… it seemed like the entire world had gone dark.

 

Wally was a mess. His best friend left. Without a word to him. Wally hadn’t even realized. He remembered being disappointed the first day Dick hadn’t shown up at the mountain. Then angry the next. Then anxious that Wally was getting avoided. After a couple more days, he accepted that his friend was taking some time.

 

Then Batman came in to tell him-

 

Them. To tell them that Dick was missing.

 

He hadn’t even tried to reach out. How long would he have waited?

 

Wally mentally sighed. He missed him so much. They had been through Hell together. 

 

Apparently not, though.

 

Roy was similar. He hadn’t even talked to Dick at all. He had found out through the news. He had punched the wall.

 

It left a dent.

 

Roy knew he would have to pay for it, but he didn’t want to right now.

 

He would make Dick pay for it. A small promise that they would get him back.

 

Kaldur wasn’t to bad. The Atlantan was struggling, though. His team was bursting apart. They didn’t talk, didn’t laugh, didn't plan like a team does.

 

It was scaring him. How quickly what he thought was an unbreakable bond had split as soon as Robin had left. 

 

Kaldur watched his friends walk around randomly. They didn’t seem to realize that talking would be good. 

 

Artemis was tired. Her arrows would break if she sharpened them anymore. Her eyes wouldn’t close. Her hair wouldn’t smooth. Her face wouldn’t smile. Her body wouldn’t  _ relax. _

 

Artemis wanted to just go home, but Dick wasn’t home. He was somewhere in the dark, gigantic world.

 

Her arms clutched her sides. She couldn’t do this. Dicks life was so fragile, so important. What if she failed.

 

“You look like you would like some coffee, Artemis.” She jumped as Kaldur appeared next to her. For the first time, she let her face soften into a smile.

 

“Thank you, Kaldur.” He smiled as she took the mug. His eyes were off, though. Almost… sad.

 

She wondered if her eyes held the same despair in them.

 

“Where did you get coffee?” Wally asked loudly, speeding to a halt by them. Artemis rolled her eyes.

 

“I used the machine.” Kaldur pointed. “Would you like some Wally?”

 

“Uh, yeah!” Artemis laughed at his response as Kaldur went to make Wally some coffee.

 

“You could make it yourself.”

 

“He offered! It’s called accepting hospitality, Artemis.”

 

Barbara let out a bark of a laugh as she joined them, nursing her own mug.

 

“How many of those have you had?” Artemis asked, leaning back against the counter.

 

“This is my 26,” she answered, placing it down and jumping onto the counter next to Artemis.

 

“Jesus, you don’t fool around with your coffee do you?”

 

“Nope! Besides, after so much on stakeouts, you learn to handle a lot.” Barbara then promptly drank the rest of it.

 

“That can’t be healthy,” Conner noted, joining them.

 

“Oh, it isn’t. But then again, neither is fighting a deranged clown with an acrobatic traffic light and a man who dresses like a vampire. Not to mention the revenge that is involved.”

 

“Welp, it’s not as bad as Oliver.” Roy took a mirrored position of Artemis, leaning ever so slightly into Barbara.

 

“I am glad to see you all conversing,” Kaldur announced, handing a mug to Wally, who started drinking eagerly.

 

“We just passed the equator, everybody!” M’gann cried helpfully into their comms. “We should be in Pretoria by the end of the day!”

 

The rest of the day was filled with either long silences or happy chatter. They would make it through this. They would get him back.

 

Wally was just about to complain about how long it was taking, that it had already started to get dark, when they landed.

 

“Some of us should stay behind,” Batgirl said, as they all stood up. “A few us can go to scope out the area, but the rest should sleep. Haileys will be here in the day after tomorrow.”

 

Wally, Artemis, and Batgirl ended up going.

 

As the group head out into the night, Wally tapped his chest. It was best to go unnoticed.

 

They had landed in a clearing, woods surrounding them on all sides. Batgirl started moving forward. The three quickly found a path, and soon found they were next to a village. 

 

They kept to the shadows, not knowing how they would react.

 

It was when an apple was stolen did they move. 

 

“Stop! Dief!” a heavily accented woman cried. It was dark, so they couldn’t see very well, but they still ran forward.

 

“Staan terug! Ek het 'n flip flop en 'n liefde vir my vrou!” another woman cried, holding up a flip flop and standing between them.

 

“Kid Flash,” Batgirl ordered. “Get the thief. Artemis, try to calm them.”

 

As the two ran in separate ways, Batgirl turned around, facing a shadowed wall.

 

“Who are you?”

 

A girl came out of the shadows, laughing. Her dark skin glistened with something. Her eyes looked like shells.

 

“Jy het my buitelander gevind. Knap gedaan,” the girl said. She wore a mask, one that wrapped like a snake around her neck and face, leaving only eye holes to see. It wrapped around her forehead,circling in a way that captured her hair and made it stand up.

Barbara searched for the language. Pretoria has several national languages. This one sounded like the first Bruce had taught her. Arkaans, she thinks. The girl had complimented her.

 

“Ek staan bekend as Batgirl. My span kom in vrede. Ons soek 'n vriend,” she said. Barbara was telling her who she was, that she wasn’t a threat, and that she had come looking for a friend.

 

“Wow, wasn’t expecting that,” the girl said in English. Her accent stuck out even more. The girl wore a grey skirt that lengthened as it went down her side. It started at her knee and rippled down to her foot. Her waist was exposed because of a crop top that had long sleeves that seemed to fade into her arms.

 

Wally appeared next to her.

 

“Artemis is handling the thief. I already returned the apple. What do you want me… to…” Wally realized that Barbara seemed distracted. His eyes followed her glances to the girl. As Wally’s eyes widened, Batgirl stepped in.

 

“Don’t even think about, Kid. We need to make friends, not enemies.” Wally merely flared at this, and the girl laughed.

 

“No, no, I want to hear it. Come on,” she opened her arms, “hit me.”

 

Wally smirked.

 

“At least one beautiful girl wants a piece of me.” Batgirl resisted a groan. The girl seemed surprised.

 

“Wow, do you even know my name?”

 

“Love doesn’t care for words,” Wally resounded smoothly. He didn’t know.

 

“They call me the Scorpion Angel.”

 

“You certainly are an ange- ow!” Wally shrieked as Artemis slapped him.

 

“I’m Artemis,” she told Scorpion Angel. “This is Kid Flash. He doesn’t have enough brain to think before he speaks.”

 

Scorpion Angel laughed.

 

“I remember you now. The American heroes!”

 

“I’m Viatnamese, thank you very much,” Artemis said reproachfully. 

 

“My apologies,” Scorpion said. “Let us go somewhere more private.”

 

“Oh!” Batgirl said. “We have just the place.”

 

($($($($($($($($($($($($($($($($($($($($)

 

“Scorpion Angel? Kinda sounds like a villain name.”

 

Roy got slapped that day.

 

“It’s fine, Artemis. I take no offense. Scorpions aren’t often seen as something good.”

 

“So,” Conner says, coming next to her. “What are your powers?”

 

“I can fade stuff. I can communicate with scorpions. I can-“

 

“Hold up.” Roy held his hands up. “Fade stuff?”

 

“Yeah!” Scorpion, or Miems, perked up. She waved a hand around the point where it was unclear what was skin and what was fabric. “See this? I call it fading. I can turn objects into other ones, choosing the point where to stop. I do it with myself sometimes. Helps me blend in.”

 

“Cool,” Roy said. 

 

“So,” Miems said. “Why did you take your ship? Don’t you have Zeta Tubes everywhere?”

 

They stared at her. 

 

“Zeta Tubes?” Batgirl asked.

 

“Yeah. The things the JLA take to go everywhere? Don’t you use them?”

 

“We,” Kaldur said, looking at his hands. “We hadn’t thought of that.”

 

“Oh. Well. You said you’re next stop was Jamaica, right? If he isn’t with the Circus, go to Jamaica via the Tubes and come back. That way you don’t have to fly all the way.”

 

Roy whistled.

 

“You’re smart.”

 

She chuckled.

 

“I know.”

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did it! Sorry it took a little while, but it’s here! Hope you enjoyed it!


	8. The first feather

Robert Gastinly.

Human.

Blond.

Atheist.

Gothamite.

Killed.

 

“Procedure started. Skin vulnerable.”

 

Sarah Kingsley.

Human.

Red haired.

Cristian.

Gothamite.

Killed.

 

“Skin cleansed. Prepare serum.”

 

Bruce Wayne.

Human.

Black Haired.

Jewish.

Gothamite.

Alive.

 

“Serum ready. Prepare needle.”

 

Jade Crock.

Human.

Black Haired.

Unknown.

Gothamite.

Unacquired.

 

“Needle ready. Is the patient secured?”

 

Harvey Dent.

Unknown.

Unknown.

Toaist.

Gothamite.

Unknown.

 

“Patient secured. Proceed as planned.”

 

Victoria Vale.

Human.

Red Haired.

Unknown.

Gothamite.

Alive.

 

“Needle in place. In three.”

 

James Gordon.

Human.

Brunette.

Protestant.

Gothamite.

Alive.

 

“Three. Two. One.”

 

Sreams.

Pain.

Be silent.

Sreams.

Be silent.

Pain!

Be silent!

 

Dead.

Killed.

Murdered?

Him.

 

Dead.

Killed.

Murdered.

Him.

 

Scream.

Pain.

Him.

Be silent.

 

Alive.

No.

Shouldn’t.

Scream.

 

Unacquired.

Ignorant.

Soon.

Talon.

 

Unknown.

Unknown?

No.

Alive.

Pain.

Alive.

 

Be silent.

 

Dead.

Dead.

Alive.

Unacquired.

Unknown.

Alive.

Alive.

 

Dead.

Dead.

Alive.

Unacquired.

Unknown.

Alive.

Alive.

 

Scre-

 

BE SILENT!

  
  


12345678900987654321

The day after landing in Pretoria was spent planning.

 

“When we see Robin, we don’t rush him. He may be going through a lot.” Barbara looked like she hadn’t slept in a week. “One or two people may approach him. Slowly.”

 

Wally sunk back a little.

 

“What if he isn’t there?” Conner asked, and Barbara suddenly became Batgirl with a simple glare.

 

Not that Barbara wasn’t scary, it was just that Batgirl usually was scarier. Not that Wally was scared of her. 

 

Oh, who was he kidding. He was a little terrified.

 

“ _ If  _ he isn’t there, we send Roy, Wally, and Artemis to Jamaica with the Zeta Tubes.”

 

“Why aren’t you going? Aren’t you guys best friends?” Miems asked, glancing around the cockpit at the team.

 

Batgirl raised herself taller. “One or two people should approach Robin. We need the third person because it is a large hospital. I am not going because I am not as experienced.” It was clear in Barbara’s face that her words pained her. Wally wondered if she had fought with herself on whether or not to go.

 

Batgirl sighed and crossed the room, taking a hold of a briefcase.

 

“Since M’gann will be too far, we’re using these.” She opened the case, taking out tiny, clear comms. “Nobody should be able to hack into them, and they’ll be undetectable by cameras and the human eye.” She handed one to each Roy, Wally, and Artemis. “I will be your voice on the other end. I’ll be guiding you through the hospital as much as I can.”

 

“What if we don’t find him?” M’gann asked. She hadn’t been talking much since her episode. None of them knew why, of course. Conner seemed to be the most concerned, but even he didn’t seem to take too much interest.

 

“We will. If he’s not in Jamaica, or at the circus, we will report to Batman to see if he has found him. If he hasn’t…” Batgirls eyes trailed down. “We go to the circus grounds in Gotham. There’s a hidden bunker that Robin prepared in the case that Batman ever…”

 

“Lost control,” Conner said, and Batgirl nodded, swallowing thickly.

 

After talking out a few more things, Scorpion left, claiming that she was needed somewhere. The team changed into civvies, realized that American clothes weren’t the best for blending in, and then changed into culturally appropriate clothes that Barbara had brought.

 

As the day went on, they could almost forget why they were there. They spent over an hour walking and browsing the market place. They laughed as the saw scorpions discretely following them. They chatted over tacos. For the first time since they had started on this mission, the tension had ceased. 

 

It came back as Barbara directed them towards the circus grounds.

 

They were standing in silence, looking over the grounds, when Artemis’ standard comm started  _ projecting. _

 

“A-artemis? Can you hear me?”  _ Jade.  _ As in, Artemis’ sister, Chesire, the criminal, the one who acted like she hated Artemis. That Jade.

 

“Jade? What’s going on? How are you  _ doing  _ that?”

 

“I don’t have much time, as cliché as that so…” The brunette fuzzed out a bit, and Artemis jumped. “The ...ort of O… They want me to jo...n. Arte...s, list..n. I kn… where ...obin is.” Something crashed on Jades side, and she shrieked. 

  
  


“Secure the network!” Artemis cried, and Batgirl glared at her.

 

“I’m trying! The comm isn’t meant for this!”

 

“Art...is! Ple… you ha… to ...et aw..y! Th… won’t ...op at ...ything. No… eve… dea…”

 

Jade flickered again, but this time, the crash was the last sound.

 

“No!” Artemis punched a nearby pole, and Wally rubbed his arm subconsciously. 

 

“Artemis, I don’t think she’s dead.”

 

“Of course she is, Barbara! Did you not see her?” Artemis’ eyes looked like fire. 

 

“Artemis, I thi-”

 

“Oh, yeah, totally alive!” Artemis’ arms moved dramatically. “She just was implying that she wouldn’t be able to talk to me ever again as a joke and having one of her buddies destroy her house. Cause she  _ loves  _ doing things like that! You know, I bet any second now-”

 

“Artemis!”

 

“What?!” Her voice was full of venom and hate, but Batgirl stood her ground.

 

“I think it was an attempted kidnapping. I think she said something about them wanting her to join them.”

 

“I…” Artemis fell to the ground. The team ran to surrounded her, but when Barbara laid a hand on her shoulder she screamed.

 

“Woah!” Batgirl stumbled back, clutching her head.

 

“Artemis!” Wally cried as she fell over, fainting.

 

The shock of that was nothing compared to that of when a human figure rose out of Artemis.

 

“ **_Speak not a whispered word of them, or they’ll send….”_ **

 

As it faded, they started to wonder.

 

What else went on inside their heads?

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are more and more common...


	9. Chapter 9

The talk was a  _ conspiracy.  _ A joke. It wasn’t real, and it wasn’t calculated. It was like creating a whole new world, where they could do whatever they wanted. Obviously, it drove Batgirl insane.

 

M’gann was hiding something, she knew it. She wouldn’t speak to Batgirl, she wouldn’t scan Batgirls mind, heck, she wouldn’t even be in the same  _ room  _ as Batgirl. This proved a problem, considering it was M’ganns ship.

 

So, if you can imagine, she was basically hoping for a lot of things when the Circus came to town. Dick, and for M’gann to get over whatever she was doing.

 

She had never been to the circus. She had suggested it when she first met Dick, but that hadn’t ended well. Dick had been so happy that he was going to see the Circus again, that he had forgotten that he was booked all that weekend. He had been devastated.

 

Babs had never brought it up again. She couldn’t even bring herself to watch it that weekend, thinking about how Dick was probably sitting through some meeting, bored and sad. 

 

Now, she was going to see it, the same one Dick had lived in for years, and it was because he was missing. It was hurting her more than she let on, Dick being gone. She had almost cried last night. 

 

But she didn’t. She was better than that. She was trained not to do that, and do that she wouldn’t.

 

It still took all of her not to burst into tears when they entered the tent and Haly gave her an understanding pat on her shoulder. She and Artemis were the only ones who were going inside, currently. Wally was outside, guarding entrances. Conner would come inside in a few minutes, and M’gann ten minutes later. Roy was backstage, checking people’s costumes.

 

Barbara knew that if Dick didn’t want to be found, he wouldn’t be, but she had to try.

 

The lights dimmed. Barbara sat down.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, and all others of the audience,” A spotlight lit the middle.  _ Pop Haly.  _ “I welcome you to Haly's Circus!”

 

A cheer echoed around as the crowd reacted to simply two sentences. Barbara was clapping along with them.

 

“Tonight, we have two special guests. As they continue, please show them hospitality. First time, and all.” As he exited, the “special guests” came into view. 

 

Barbara gasped. There was no way.

 

The light switched on, and Barbara cheered.

 

  * ••••••••••••



 

Richard’s arms felt so sore. Is that what sore was?

 

He couldn’t- what’s the word? It had slipped away. What’s the word to—

 

Richard’s mind was full of holes and he hated it. What’s the word? Beyond hate…

 

324 said this was normal. What did that mean?

 

He could fly, pick up things with his feet, and—

 

No! What was the word? What had he been saying?

 

“Richard, heel.”

 

Richard heeled.

 

324 came closer.

 

“How are we today?”

 

“Good.”

 

324 bared his mouth bones.

 

“Good. Can you remember any more?”

 

Remember! That was the word.

 

“No.”

 

One word was best.

 

“A shame. You are doing better, Richard. Much better. We might let you out soon. You’ll get to play!”

 

Play?

 

324 kneeled in front of him. Was that the right word?

 

“You are special, Richard. Most Court members don’t get this much attention. They are left with their own thoughts for longer, making their own decisions. They almost never are allowed to play.”

 

“Bad.” Richard hated being alone. Thoughts could hurt.

 

“Very bad. Richard, do you know this person?”

 

324 held up a picture of some one.

 

“No.”

 

324 held up other pictures. Was he—

 

What was the word?

 

“No.”

 

“Very well. Do you know these voices?”

 

324 pressed a button. Voices.

 

“Robin! No!”

 

It tugged, but he couldn’t place it.

 

“No.”

 

“Dick? Is that you?”

 

“No.”

 

“My friend, are you alright?”

 

“No.”

 

“Canary, we need evac now. Robins hurt. Bullet wound.”

 

“No.” Was Robin okay? Didn’t matter.

 

“I think he’s asleep.”

 

“No.”

 

“This was supposed to be  _ the  _ day.”

 

Roy. That was Roy.

 

“Yes.”

 

324 looked…

 

What was the word?

 

“Very good. One more.”

 

“Get on board, or get out of the way.”

 

“No.”

 

“Good,good. Richard, who was the voice you recognized?”

 

“Roy Harper, Speedy, Red Arrow. Alive. We knew each other. Professionally, and not.”

 

He spoke like it was a report.

 

“Is he a liability?”

 

“...yes.”

  
  


  * •••••••••••



“I want the location on Roy Harper sooner than possible.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Well? Where is it?”

 

“Just a moment, sir.”

 

“We don’t have a moment! Tell me the location of Roy Harper.”

 

“Hit. Pretoria, South Africa.”

 

“Closer.”

 

“Yes, sir. Haly’s Circus, South Africa.”

 

“Good.”

 

“Sir, would you like me to shoot?”

 

“No. I need you to make sure he  _ stays _ in Pretoria.”

 

“May I suggest, the new recruit? She hardly struggles.”

 

“Permission granted.”

 

“O-W-L, this is Nest. Please send up Predator.”

 

“You got it, Nest. Sending her up now.”

 

_ DING. _

 

“Predator. We have a mission for you.”

 

“A mission? I’m all ears.”

 

“You are to find Roy Harper and isolate him. Do not let him leave his current location.”

 

“Sounds like fun. Wait, what are those?”

 

“They are comms hooked up with the Owl vaccine.  _ If  _ you stray from your mission, this will be injected in you.”

 

“You should know, cats hate collars.”

 

“And I hate run away soldiers. Good luck Predator.”

 

“Won’t need it, Grayson.”


	10. Chapter 10

The Circus was a dead end, basically. 

 

Dick wasn’t there, and Roy disappeared. Two people not there…

 

Two people arriving.

 

According to them, they had been researching the case for almost as long as them. As Wally and Artemis got ready, Batgirl questioned them.

 

“How’d you find us?”

 

“We didn’t. We were just looking for him in the obvious place. Why are just Wally and Artemis going?”

 

“Because Roy’s not here. What do you know about Grayson?”

 

“I know that if I met him I might just forget about Robin.”

 

“What she means is that we know as much as the justice league file does. By which I mean, not much.”

 

“What about his location?”

 

“We have found only dead ends. Say, where  _ is  _ Robin?” 

 

“Hopefully, in Jamaica.”

 

The looks on their faces made Batgirl smile.

 

“Wait, Robin’s secret identity-“

 

“Is Dick Grayson, yes, get over it.”

 

“Ha! I told you Zee!”

 

“You just said they were brown.”

 

Batgirl sighed. She spun around in her chair. She really had  hoped that Zatanna and Rocket would give her more information. 

 

“Ready when you are, Babs.” Artemis places the comm into her ear, nodding to Batgirl.

 

“Sure thing, Artemis.” Batgirl took a breath, readying the next question.

 

“Hey, I can vouch for them. Focus on the mission.” Artemis smiled at Zatanna.

 

“Oh, shut up and let Wally carry you.” It was long decided that that would be how they got to the Zeta Tubes. That didn’t mean Artemis was okay with it yet.

 

“How come I have to be carried bridal style but you let Dick ride on your-“ She shook her head. “You know what? Never mind. Let’s go.”

 

Wally scooped her up and ran out. Batgirl sat forward, pressing the connection for the comms.

 

“Kid Flash, Artemis, can you hear me?” She really should’ve done this when they were in the ship, shouldn’t she?

 

“Right here, BG.”

 

“I’m here too, Batgirl.”

 

Good. She would find her best friend. And nothing, nothing, would get in her way.

 

()))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

 

Roy smiled. He had no clue what he was doing.

 

“You’re good to go!” The performer smiled. 

 

As the performer walked off, he heard something.

 

As he started to reach behind him for his bow when the noise spun him to push him onto a wall.

 

“Hello, Roy-Joy.”

 

_ No. _ Not here. It wasn’t possible.

 

“You could’ve just called.”

 

_ Please  _ let him be wrong. 

 

“Aw, where’s the fun in that? You’d know it was me.”

 

He wasn’t wrong. It was her.

 

“Oh come on, Jade. You wouldn’t call from a recognizable number.”

 

“You’re no fun.”

 

He smirked.

 

“Wanna bet?”

  
  


——————————————————

 

“They are looking for you.”

 

Richard looked up. He wanted a name.

 

“Who?”

 

324 sighed.

 

“The justice league worst. You can beat them.” 324 smiled. “What is it?”

 

“I don’t have a name.” There was Richard, but that was more treat then name.

 

“You have one.”

 

Richard tilted his head.

 

“I do? What is it?” 324 pulled out a costume. It was colored weirdly, an R on the left.

 

“Robin.” They threw the the costume at Richard. “Get changed. Mission debriefing soon. They want you in costume.”

 

Richard held out the costume. Weird.

  
  


:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:;:

  
  


“Robin. How is the costume?”

  
  


“I don’t like the colors.”

 

“Very well. It will help, though. In the field.”

 

“What is my mission?”

 

“Calm, Robin. Letting you out is delicate. You must not be seen by anyone but the targets before you kill them.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Victoria Vale. She is proving… frustrating.”

 

“And if I encounter the criminal?”

 

“Run. He must not see you.”

 

“Understood.”

 

“Good luck, Robin.”

 

“Thank you, Flyer.”

 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

The door opened. She was on the phone.

 

“I’m telling you, get the story. If I have to do up to Wayne myself, you aren’t getting paid.”

 

She threw her jacket onto a nearby chair, walking into the kitchen to pour a glass of wine. He closed the door, locking it.

 

He didn’t want to kill her, but he had too.

 

“Of course you can! Look, just tell the butler some BS reason, and he’ll let you in. Trust me, when we get this story, we will be worshiped. Lois Lane doesn’t stand a chance.”

 

As she approached the living room, he slipped into a hiding spot.

 

“Oh my God, if I have to tell you to do your job one more time, I will fire you. Now go, do your job.” She took her phone away from her ear and hung up. Robin could hear the person's voice still talking.

 

“God help me, I’ll murder that boy.” She took out a remote, turning on the tv. He approached her. Silence was needed.

 

He took out a knife. He needed to be quick.

 

_ CRASH _

 

Screams.

 

“Oh my God, what-“

 

“Ms. Vale. We need to talk.”

 

Robin held a sigh. Flyer wouldn’t be happy. It was time to run.


	11. Chapter 11

“Hngh.”

 

“Babe? What  _ time  _ is it?”

 

“Don’t know, Jade. S#^(“

 

“Meow. Colorful.”

 

“Like you’re black and white.”

 

“Good point. What is it?”

 

“I had a mission.”

 

“Since when do you take missions, Roy-Joy?”

 

“Don’t call me that, and it’s Dick. He’s missing.”

 

“The little birdy-boy?”

 

“Wait, you said you knew where he was, right? What happened?”

 

“When did I say that?”

 

“On the call, with Artemis!”

 

“Tt, Roy.  _ So  _ naive.”

 

“Jade…”

 

“Shut up and kiss me.”

 

!@#$%^&*()()*&^%$#@!

The Zeta Tubes took Wally and Artemis to ten blocks away from the hospital. They were wearing civvies, as Kid Flash and Artemis just walking around a hospital would probably attract attention.

 

They arrived in the back of an alleyway, and as soon as they took a step forward, Artemis slipped an arm around his waist. He tried not to blush.

 

“Oh, don’t get cocky. I don’t want anybody hitting on me in another language. Plus, Dick wouldn’t think either of us were comfortable with this.” Yes, Wally told himself. Dick would. He knew how much Artemis would do for a mission.

 

But then again, he probably didn’t think of this mission.

 

“Alright, team.” Wally almost jumped. Batgirl had just spoken over the comms. “Up here, take a right. Keep going until told differently.”

 

Wally nodded, then realized she couldn’t see him. Artemis had already touched her comm by then.

 

“Got it. Wally, they can’t  _ see  _ you nodding.”

 

“Wait,” Batgirl said. “Did he nod?”

 

“No!” Wally said, just as Artemis said, “Yes!”

 

“Oh my god. Okay, back to the mission.”

 

They turned right, and it was quiet for a couple minutes. Just as Wally was about to check if the entire ocean between them had disconnected them, Batgirl gave another order.

 

“Turn left here. Three more blocks.”

 

Quiet.

 

“Turn left.”

 

Woah. 

 

Wally knew Dick was rich. Dick didn’t really like to talk about it, but it wasn’t exactly something he could hide. He knew that if Dick wanted, he could blow up the world and just move to Mars, and he’d still have money left. But when he saw that hospital, he was reminded by just how much money the Wayne’s had. 

 

“Screw Roy and his stupid side quest,” Artemis muttered. Batgirl’s voice appeared.

 

“What was that, Artemis?”

 

“I said screw Roy and his stupid side quest!” Artemis said. “It’ll take forever to search the hospital!”

 

“Well, you don’t need too. You’re just trying to get to Rick Grayson. As far as we know, if he’s anywhere, he’ll be there.”

 

“Thanks, Batgirl,” Wally said. And, to his delight, Artemis nodded. “You know, they can’t see you, Artemis.”

 

“I’m not trying to say anything, Wally. Just listening.”

 

“Alright, just get into the hospital. And no making out.”

 

Artemis groaned as Wally stuttered out a defense.

 

But into the hospital they still went.

 

They were five minutes into listening to directions when Artemis was handed a water bottle. She held it for a while before reaching out to trash it.

 

“Hey, what are you doing?” Wally asked. It was still full.

 

“I’m not going to drink water handed to me by some stranger, Wally,” Artemis said. 

 

“This isn’t Gotham, Arty.” Wally took the water bottle and uncapped it. “People don’t just posion water in normal places.”

 

Wally downed it as they kept walking, both Batgirl and Artemis muttering something about how  _ he  _ didn’t have to worry, with his metabolism. But metabolism does have it’s cons.

 

See, ten minutes into the hospital adventure, he needed to go to the bathroom.

 

“Artemis, I have  _ super-speed. _ It’ll be fine.”

 

“Wally,” Artemis was rubbing her temples, “we don’t have  _ time  _ for this. Just, go.”

 

Wally sped off.

 

As he was walking past the unused sink to get a paper towel, he caught sight of something.

 

A slip of paper, with a few drops of blood, laying in the drain.

 

Gotham.

 

He took the piece of paper, looking closely. He almost bumped into the person walking in on his way out. 

 

By the time he found Artemis again, he had realized there were three specks of dried blood that had bits of foundation around them.

 

And Gotham.

 

Just Gotham. That was all that was written. It was sloppy and harsh as if it was carved and if he scratched the paper hard enough it would make a matching mark. 

 

“What do you have, Kid Idiot?” Artemis asked. Wally handed it over.

 

“Whatever it is, it can wait. Complete the mission. Get to the room.”

 

“Right,” Artemis said, pocketing the slip.  _ No. _

 

“Just ahead, the last room, on the right.”

 

“Thanks, Batgirl.”

 

No one seemed to notice that Artemis wasn’t talking to anyone, but that was okay. 

 

And then they entered the room.

 

Dick’s great uncle was lying with his eyes closed, grey hair barely there. 

 

“Oh my god, he looks terrible,” Artemis said. The window was dusty, as if no one had tended to the room in years.

 

“He’s been asleep for a long time,” Wally said. “It’ll be a miracle if he wakes up.”

 

“He’s there?” Batgirl asked. She had disbelief, relief, happiness, and worry in her voice. Wally found himself dreading answering her.

 

“No,” Wally said. “We’ll Zeta back. See you soon.”

 

There was silence for too long.

 

“Babs?” Wally asked.

 

“Yeah. See you soon, Wally. Batgirl, out.”

 

The comm shut off.

 


	12. Chapter 12

“He needs to get better.”

 

“He’s as good as he can be!”

 

“He can barely talk, 324. He needs to get better.”

 

“You did this to him. I can’t fix it if you don’t tell me what’s in the serum.”

 

“That’s classified. You know that.”

 

“Who is higher clearance then me? More importantly, what is more important than Richard becoming fully trained?”

 

“You are getting too close to the boy. You are lucky that we haven’t switched you.”

 

“You have.”

 

“What did you just say, 324?”

 

“You heard me, Grayson. You already have switched me.”

 

“What are you talking about, 324?”

 

“I can erase any memories I want. You haven’t noticed the blank spots?”

  
“I… am demoting you, 324.”

 

“No, you’re not.”

 

“Yes— what are you doi—”

 

“I told you. You will not be demoting me. Good night, Grayson.”

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Hngh, Roy?” Jade rubbed her head, sitting up. Roy was dressed in his uniform.

 

“I have to go, Jade. The team needs me.” He wasn’t looking at her. Apparently, arrows were fascinating.

 

“Since when do you care about what they need?” Jade asked. She needed to keep him here. He would endanger Artemis by leaving.

 

“I care about Dick, Jade. I need to go.” She put a hand on his.

 

“No, you don’t.” He frowned. “Please. We’ve been so happy for two days. Were you happy with them?” Guilt trip was low, but it was all that kept her between humanity and mutation.

 

“Dick is missing, Jade. You’re hiding something. The team is falling apart. I’m falling apart. And all you care about is making out?”  _ No. It’s not. _

 

“Roy, please,” Jade said. She needed him here. “I’m not hiding anything. Dick  _ ran away.  _ The team is fine.” She needed more sentences.  _ Talk _ , Chesire. “You want to go to a movie?”

 

“Jade, don’t try that.” He moved away. No. Stay. “What happened?”

 

She moved closer. “You’re less hot when you’re talking.”

 

“Deal. Tell me what you’re hiding, or I leave.” Okay. Calm down. Think of a lie.

 

Oh no. That was a little to much.

 

“Jade?” God. No. 

 

“I think I’m pregnant.”

 

1234567890987654321234567898765432123456789098765432123456789097621234698765

 

“Gotham?” Barbara asked, looking at the slip.

 

“We need to run the blood.” Kaldur held out an arm. Barbara handed it to him.

 

“We need to get to Gotham,” Wally said. 

 

“Roy’s still here,” Artemis pointed out. Wally shrugged.

 

“He knows where the Zeta Tubes are. We need to get to Gotham.”

 

“Doesn’t this seem too familiar?” Conner asked. 

 

“What do you mean?” Barbara asked.

 

“Someone willingly running away for no reason. Not contacting us.”

 

“Even so, we need to go to Gotham. It’s is indeed Robin’s blood.” Kaldur handed it to Barbara.

 

“I’ll get the ship up,” M’gann said. She had stopped avoiding Barbara too much, which was good.

 

That was, she had been stopping. Until five minutes after liftoff, when Barbara started screaming.

 

She screamed for ten seconds. Zatanna counted.

 

“M’gann, can’t you do something?” Rocket asked. Barbara stopped screaming. 

 

She had collapsed. Her mouth was still open from screaming. Out of this open mouth, though, came small amounts of steam, which formed into a humanoid. Not human, humanoid.

 

“No. I am much more powerful.”

 

“The darkness,” M’gann said. She looked stunned. The steam nodded.

 

“I am 324. I have your friend.”

 

“Then where is he?” Wally yelled. 324 held up a hand.

 

“Texas.”

 

“No!” M’gann said. “You’re a liar! Get out!”

 

“Calm yourself, M’gann. Do you need proof?”

 

“Yes,” Wally said quickly. “Show us Dick.”

 

“Richard,” 324 called. “Come here.”

 

A sack stumbled into steam. 324 smiled.

 

“It’s okay, Richard. You can talk.”

 

“Why? What’s going on?”

 

“It’s a trick!” M’gann screamed. “He’s been in our heads this whole time!”

 

“Is that… one of the targets?”

 

“Yes,” 324 said. “Good. That’s her voice.”

 

“He’s lying!”

 

“Shut up, M’gann,” Wally snapped. “Dick, can you hear me?”

 

There was a pause.

 

“He means you, Richard,” 324 said.

 

“Oh. Uh, yes?”

 

“Robin?” Zatanna asked. The sack stopped shifting.

 

“Zee?” Dick. Thank God. He knew her. 

 

“Robin, it’s me. Zee. Zatanna. What’s going on?”

 

“That’s classified,” Robin said. 

 

“No, it’s me. Robin, you can trust me. Please.”

 

“324?” No. Just tell her. Don’t go asking 324.

 

“Go ahead, Richard.”

 

“Okay. I am about to go on a mission, once the targets are here. The Court doesn’t want me… what’s the word? Anyway, once I complete it, I’ll finally be able to… argh… complete a high class mission.” What? What did that mean?”

 

_ THUD _

 

“What was that?” Rocket asked. Someone banged on the door.

 

“What’s going on?” Robin asked. M’gann opened the door.

 

Oh thank the heavens. It was Roy.

 

“Miss me?” He jugged over.

 

“Roy!” Robin called. 

 

“Dick?” Roy asked. He had stopped, seeing the steam. 324 was showing the most emotion since he arrived. And that emotion was panic.

 

“My name’s Richard,” the sack said. He sounded hurt.

 

“Yeah, of course, but you hate that name,” Roy said. “You’ve gone by Dick since you were little.”

 

“Go, Richard. You are excused.” The sack stumbled off screen.

 

“No!” Wally yelled. 

 

324 grinned, then disappeared.

 


	13. Chapter 13

“That was risky,” Grayson said. 324 rolled his eyes.

 

“We know something now,” 324 said. “We weren’t thorough. We need to erase Zatanna and Roy.”

 

“Zatanna and Roy?” Grayson asked. “Zatara and Harper. You can’t risk getting attached.”

 

“I know,” 324 said. “But I have his memories! I don’t know how much longer I can separate myself from him.”

 

“Until he’s finished his purpose,” Grayson said. 324’s eyes widened.

 

“You can’t kill him!” 324 said. Grayson sighed.

 

“Of course not. But when he kills them, he won’t want to escape anymore.” Grayson looked over to where Richard was playing. “He’ll be to guilty.”

  
  
  


“Wally,” Barbara said. “Please calm down.”

 

“He was right there! In your head!” Wally was screaming. “How could you have not known?”

 

“Nobody knew,” Conner said. 

 

“I did,” M’gann confessed quietly. “It’s why I was avoiding her. I didn’t want to….”

 

“To what? Tell us?” Barbara looked angry. “There was an alien in my head, and you didn’t think to tell me?”

 

“Why couldn’t he remember us?” Raquel asked. 

 

“He remembered Roy,” Wally said.

 

“And me,” Zatanna added. “But that doesn’t make sense.”

 

“Why didn’t he answer to Dick?” Artemis asked. “That’s his name.”

 

“Telepath, remember?” Barabara was still glaring down M’gann. “Probably brainwashed him.”

 

“This is all a mess,” Roy said. Wally rounded to look at him.

 

“Where have you been?” Wally asked. 

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“You disappeared! After the Circus!” Roy wasn’t looking at him. “We has to go to Jamaica alone.”

 

“Sorry if I took a little time to clear my head,” Roy said. “Like you never need it.”

 

“I never disappear in the middle of a mission! Dick’s missing, Roy,  and you have the nerve to try and turn this on me?

 

“Hey!” Kaldur said. “We do not need this right now.”

 

“She’s pregnant,” Roy said, quietly. “I just found out.”

 

“Who?” M’gann asked.

 

“Jade.”

 

Artemis backed up a little. It looked like from shock.

 

Then she sprung onto Roy,  knocking him to the ground.

 

“Artemis!” Kaldur said. 

 

“Your best friend is missing, one of your team has been possessed, and you decide to go off with me sister?” Artemis whispered.

 

Kaldur started to pry he off. They did not need this right now.

  
  


It was two days of torture. Artemis was constantly trying to get Roy alone to threaten him, but Roy stuck close to Kaldur. Wally was mad at pretty much everybody, and Barbara was refusing to talk to anybody.  asked.

 

“Jade,” Roy said. Artemis started backing up, presumably from shock.

 

Presumably until she launched herself at him.

  
  
  


Kaldur was annoyed.

 

Artemis had given Roy a black eye, and had almost broken his ribs. Wally has spent half an hour yelling at her, then the other half yelling at Roy.

 

He was also tired.

 

Barbara had been a mess since the incident two days before. It had been over a week since Dick had gone missing. They were running out of geese to chase. It didn’t help that Barbara wouldn’t talk to anyone.

 

He was also exasperated.

 

Batman had called once to check in. Once. It was his son missing, but it was the team's mission. They hadn’t told him they knew. Why did they have to keep so many secrets?

 

And lastly, he wasn’t prepared for Gotham.

 

Artemis had talked about how Gotham worked for an hour before landing.

 

“No powers,” Artemis said, looking at M’gann. “It’ll be dark, but it doesn’t matter. People see superpowers and they freak.”

 

Where to avoid was a big part.

 

“Dick lives in the nice part,” Artemis said. “He gets kidnapped about once every two months. Follow me, Barbara, Wally.”

 

She didn’t say Roy. 

 

“Keep your head down,” Artemis said. “Roy and Barbara are known by both press and gangs. I’m known by gangs. None of that is good.”

 

How to avoid crashing into a villain.

 

“We’re not going into any major places, but we still have to be careful.” She glanced at Wally. “Don’t just run into anything abandoned. One is enough.”

 

Where Batman was.

 

“We have to meet him to ask about the court, but he won’t be easy to find.” Artemis pointed to the police station on the map. “That’s why we go here, where the bat signal is.”

 

There was so much information, it was a wonder that Artemis remembered it all.

 

“Artemis, we’ve been in Gotham before,” M’gann said. Artemis mocked surprise.

 

“You did? How did that mission end?”

 

She had been bitter since Roy had arrived. Bitter since Robin has escaped right from their clutches.

 

And who wouldn’t be?

 

“Point taken,” Kaldur said. “Is that all, Artemis?”

 

“Yep.”

 

Kaldur nodded. As the door opened, Wally pressed his chest as M’gann shifted.

 

They were out in no time.

 

They walked on the roofs, very careful not to be seen. Batgirl ended up helping several muggings. Zatanna changed her costume three times.

 

When the finally did get to the Gotham City Police Department, they saw Gordon, already there, approaching the light.

 

Artemis held a hand out to signal for Batgirl to stay behind.

 

“Commissioner,” Kaldur said.

 

“Aqualad?” Gordon asked. “What’re…”

 

He stopped as the rest of the team came into view.

 

“We need to turn on the bat signal,” Artemis said. “It’s an emergency.”

 

“More important than—“

 

“Yes,” Kaldur said. “We just need to ask some questions.”

 

A cape swished past. Someone else was there.

 

“Turn on the signal,” Kaldur said. Something wasn’t right.

 

Gordon flipped the switch to turn on the signal. Nothing happened. He bent down, and found a piece of paper slip into where the switch connected.

 

He held it up.

 

“‘Catch me if you can,’” Gordon read. Wally sped over and grabbed it.

 

“It’s Rob’s handwriting!” Wally said. “He’s here!”

 

“The cape,” Artemis said.

 

“He’s guarded.” M’gann was rubbing her temples. “I can’t feel him.”

 

“Robin?” Zatanna called. Laughter responded. Robin’s laughter.

 

“Let’s move, team,” Kaldur said. “This is our best shot. Nothing can stop you.”

 

The laughter echoed louder.

 

“Split up,” Artemis said. “The fastest way.”

 

So, on the order, they all ran in different directions. They didn’t even jump off the roof at the same time.


	14. Chapter 14

M’gann was the first to think she found him.

 

She had only been to Gotham twice. That had been the good part of town.

 

Now she was stumbling her way through the dark alleys, looking for any sign. Every creak was now Robin. Every whistle of the wind. Every slight yell or clamor. All of it was now Robin.

 

“What’s a girl like you doing in this part of town?”

 

She turned to sharply, she barely remembered not to turn green. There were two teenagers standing in front of her. One, a blonde girl glaring at the boy, and the other, the boy who had spoken.

 

“Don’t be mean,” the girl said. “We’re not here for a fight.”

 

“She isn’t from here,” the boy said. M’gann begun to feel self conscious. “Look at her. She’s obviously here for one.”

 

What did that mean?

 

“Oh, stop it, Jacob,” the girl said. “She’s probably heard the stories. We don’t need to enforce any of that.”

 

“What stories?” M’gann asked. They both looked at her like she was crazy. Then they started to laugh.

 

“Beat it, girl,,” Jacob said, warmly. “Don’t get murdered.”

 

They walked straight past her, still laughing. Soon, they rounded the corner, but laughter still echoed. A different type.

 

“Robin?” M’gann called, shifting her form to that which Robin knew.

 

“Neat trick, darling!” a deranged voice called. Oh no.

 

“You’re not Robin,” she said.

 

“Huh,” the Joker said, still hidden. “I guess not.”

 

“Where is he?” The laughter returned.

 

“You  _ lost  _ birdboy? Bats must be pissed!” Joker called. M’gann decided she needed to get out of there.

 

She shifted to camouflage, and started to run, the Joker’s violent taunts right behind her.

  
  
  


Artemis didn’t look for Robin to thoroughly.

 

She was headed towards her home, hoping, praying, he would interfere. He would know. He always knew.

 

And then he was there, standing in front of Artemis, that stupid mask on, no doubt smiling internally.

 

“Did you know?”

 

“I always know.”

 

Of course he does.

 

“Then who?”

 

“Close.”

 

Really? ‘Close?’ That was a terrible excuse for a pun.

 

“Fine. Where?”

 

“Hades.”

 

No. 

 

No, he can’t be dead. Not after all they did to find him.

 

“Please.”

 

“Please?”

 

“Please, tell me.”

 

A long pause. An expectant look. A sigh.

 

“Please, tell me, Dad.”

  
  
  


Wally had never run so fast. He was running and running and running and running and—

 

And he couldn’t find him. He had disappeared. Gone. 

 

And then his cape fell on top of him.

 

He would recognize it anywhere. The smell of the Wayne household. The canary yellow and black sides. The hand stitches he had never understood.

 

Look closely, and there’s just so much “Dick Grayson” on it, you’d be a fool to miss it.

 

“Souvenir,” a voice called, but it wasn’t quite Robin’s. Sure, it sounded like it, but something was off.

 

“Rob?” Why. Why did he still call his name when he knew it wasn’t him?

 

“Hey, KF.” A figure jumped down. Robin’s height. Robin’s build.

 

But something was off. He held himself differently.

 

“It’s been a while,” Robin said. When he stepped into the light, a strange thing happened.

 

It was definitely Robin standing there, but so much felt off that Wally just couldn’t trust it.

 

But he couldn’t tell what it was. What was wrong?

 

“You’re awfully quiet,” Not-Robin said, “What’s going on?”

 

That. That was it.

 

Dick had just gone through a traumatic event. He wouldn’t be like this. He’d be a mess.

 

“Who are you?” Wally asked. M’gann hadn’t established a mind link. 

 

“What?” Not-Robin looked truly hurt. “Wally, it’s me.”

 

Ok. Question only the real Robin would know.

 

“What is Roy’s second favorite animal?”

 

He didn’t know, but Robin did. He had laughed and laughed, but never told.

 

“Who’s Roy?”

 

And suddenly Wally is moving. He’s moving quicker then he ever did when fighting Robin.

 

And then Not-Robin  _ loses,  _ and Wally is sure this isn’t Robin. Robin would’ve put up more of a fight. Not-Robin is just writhing as Wally hold his hands behind his back, and he’s screaming.

 

“Wally, let me go! Who is Roy?  _ Who _ ?”

 

He sounds like he’s going crazy. Wally tries to remember a pressure point.

 

It was too much, Wally thinks. You wouldn’t have been able to keep going if he was awake.

 

Then his skin is mutating into a familiar form. 

 

324.

 

Wally bends down to carry him, and when he looks up, there’s a bright light in the sky. Wally grabs the cape, draping it messily across 324, and starts running towards GCPD. It was time Batman gave them some answers.

  
  
  


Richard was feeling cold and lonely. His uncle had said 324 couldn’t visit, and to busy himself with training.

 

So he trained. He kept training, it coming almost easily to him. He could fly easily now. That took more work then the combat.

 

He had good aim. Uncle says it could be better, so Richard tries to get better. It doesn’t work. 

 

But he keeps training.

 

“Dude, if you keep doing that, you’ll sweat to death.”

 

He turned around. A teenage boy was standing there.

 

He needed some water.

 

“Who are you?” Richard asked.

 

“You’re not Richard,” the boy said. Richard blinked. 

 

“Who are you?” he asked again.

 

“That’s unimportant. It’s you that you should be asking that about.” The orange-haired teen hoisted himself from his slump on the wall.

 

“I know who I am,” Richard said.

 

“You’re not Richard,” the boy insisted.

 

“Then who am I?”

 

“Dick.”

 

“What?” Richard asked.

 

“Your name is Dick,” the boy said.

 

“No, it isn’t,” Richard said. “It’s Richard.”

 

“That’s your full name, dude,” the boy said. “But everyone just calls you Dick.”

 

His uncle yelled for him. Richard diverted his attention to the door.

 

“Who are you speaking to, Robin?” Richard turned to where the boy had been, but he was gone.

 

“No one.”


	15. Chapter 15

_ FWOOSH _

 

That might make you laugh, but that was the exact sound that Batman made as he dropped down. You could fight Artemis on it. 

 

Not that she could win. She was feeling pretty exhausted.

 

Why couldn’t 324 just actually be Robin? Why?

 

“This better be important,” Batman said, walking towards the team. Wally held up 324.

 

“He was disguised as Robin,” Wally said.

 

“Do you know where he is?” Batman asked. Ugh. Please. Just tell them where he is. 

 

“No,” Batgirl said. Bruce narrowed his eyes at her. “But we think he’s being kept at the Court of Owls headquarters.”

 

Stupid Court of Owls. Why couldn’t they kidnap a normal kid? Someone who wasn’t the protege of Batman?

 

“Think?”

 

“Know,” Kaldur said. “But we don’t know where it is.”

 

“And you think I do?” Batman asked.

 

Oh, come  _ on. _

 

“Uh,” Artemis said. “Do you?”

 

“Of course I do,” Batman responded. Artemis tried not to sigh. Bruce, please, no game playing. She just wanted to go home.

 

“Where?” Batgirl asked. Bruce turned fully to look at her. Artemis felt the urge to say “oh” like someone getting sent to the principal's office.

 

Keep your head, Artemis. No treating Batman like a principal.

 

“Why are you here?”

 

“I’m a resource,” Batgirl answered. Artemis wished she could have that kind of pep.

 

Bruce nodded, then started typing on his wrist. 

 

“Coordinates received,” Kaldur said. 

 

But Batman was already gone. The commissioner seemed a little resigned by this fact.

 

324 started rolling a little. Wally groaned.

 

“Great, what I am supposed to do with him?”

  
  


“Prepare yourself, child.”

 

Uncle was back. His name was George. Well, he was  _ pretty sure  _ his name was George. It could be Harold.

 

Was it Harold? No. Jeremy? Maybe…

 

No, it was definitely George.

 

Not that it mattered. He couldn’t call him anything but Uncle.

 

“For what?” Richard asked. He had started calling himself Dick, but had given up. It didn’t feel right.

 

“Your test. They are coming.”

 

The team. He needed to knock out all of them. It just didn’t seem possible.

 

“What if I fail?” Richard asked. “What if I die?”

 

“You’ll come back,” his uncle told him. “But you will be punished.”

 

“When will they be here?” 

 

“Twenty minutes,” his uncle said. “Remember. Lie, then attack.”

 

“Yes, uncle.”

 

It took them twenty minutes, 32 seconds. They didn’t try and keep their arrival a secret. Their first mistake.

 

“Robin?”  _ What. _

 

That was the boy who he hallucinated. 

 

Robin dropped down. 

 

“You came,” Robin said. The boy was holding 324. He glanced at a red headed girl next to him.

 

“That’s him,” she said. 

 

“Dick,” the boy breathed. Robin smiled. He took a step forward. 

 

The boy just handed 324 to the girl next to him. 

 

While the boy hugged him, Robin couldn’t help staring at 324. Robin hadn’t seen anybody sleep before.

 

“God, what happened to your arms?”

 

When the boy let go, Robin took out a knife, and stabbed him.

 

“Wally!” a girl who had seemed relaxed called. Robin has started running.

 

“Robin!”  _ TestTestTestTest _ .

 

An arrow whizzed past his ear. 

 

“Don’t  _ kill  _ him, Artemis,” Wally said, clutching his side. 

 

“What do we do?”

 

A stronger voice called out. Robin was already by the ceiling.

 

“Batgirl, deal with Wally’s wound. Miss Martian, see if you can engage with Robin without getting hurt.”

 

Robin watched carefully to see who nodded. The green girl. A Martian.

 

Robin chose an explosive. He held his hand out all the way, watching as she attempted to find him. 

 

Make her think she won, a cold voice thought. Then drop the bomb.

 

He felt the light touch of another mind, and let his hand go limp.

 

She just started to make his vision go blurry from fighting her when the explosion hit. So much for not getting hurt.

 

“Dive!” Strong-Voice yelled. Batgirl just barely managed to get Wally out of the way.

 

But Miss Martian lay on the ground, not doing anything.

 

“We need to subdue him,” a boy yelled. S. The symbol for the house of El. A Kryptonian.

 

“I’ll do it,” a girl said. Oh.

 

She was good. Robin could tell. She ran at the wall top speed and shot an arrow upwards and started to do what looked like walking on air. When she got to the ceiling, Robin was ready. Just as human as him. Anything could kill her.

 

Except he didn’t want to kill her. Just badly hurt.

 

“Robin,” the girl said, moving slowly across the beams. “Please. Snap out of it.”

 

Lie and attack.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

Lie and attack.

 

“I’m talking about us being a team,” the girl said. “You having to wear sunglasses all the time because Batman didn’t want anybody knowing. About you running up and taking a surprise selfie. I’m talking about all of us.”

 

Lie and attack.

 

“That didn’t happen,” Robin said, trying to make his voice break. It wasn’t hard. “It was a dream.”

 

“No,” the girl said. “Wally running in shirtless and tripping and falling while we stood there for a mission. You two teaming up to prank all of us. Recording your laugh and leaving it for enemies to find.”

 

“You’re lying.” Where did lie and attack go? Remember your mission. You can’ fail. “I don’t know you.”

 

“You called me goddess of virginity,” the girl said. Artemis. Her name was Artemis. Right?

 

He hoped.

 

“Artemis?” She nodded hopefully. “Oh my god, Artemis.”

 

His relief was real. His memory of her wasn’t. 

 

She jumped across the beams and hugged him.

 

He pushed her. 

 

She yelled.

 

Miss Martian caught her.

 

324 was awake. 

 

Miss Martian looked up at him.

 

324 was untying the bonds mentally.

 

His vision was blurring.

 

Miss Martians eyes started to glow.

 

324 was almost free.

 

His vision blacked.


	16. Chapter 16

Robin was falling.

 

“Are you almost done?” Wally asked. It hurt, God, it hurt, but he wouldn’t die.

 

“Yes, just stay still,” Barbara said.

 

“He’s falling,” Wally said, fidgeting with his hands.

 

“What?” Barbara looked up. “Dick!”

 

“I got him!” M’gann said, her eyes returning to normal as she levitated him slowly.

 

Kaldur walked over and started to talk to her. That’s when he noticed.

 

“Zatanna!” Wally called. “423!”

 

He said it backwards to confuse him, hoping Zatanna will get it. She glanced around, saw that his ropes laid limp, and started to talk.

 

“Calm down,” Barbara said, making Wally glance at her. He looked down at the wound, which was down shut with a bandage on top. 

 

“Are you done?” Wally asked. Barbara sighed, but nodded. Wally sped off.

 

“—completely gone. Not a trace of anyone on the team, or Batman. It just doesn’t make sense.”

 

Kaldur shook his head in dismay.

 

“But how do we get them back?” Kaldur asked. Wally blinked.

 

“Get what back?”

 

“His memories.” Wally’s eyes widened. They were just…  _ gone _ ?

 

“Here,” Zatanna said, dropping a bound 324. “He wanted to escape.”

 

That’s when Wally remembered it. When it all made sense. The disguise, the weird, hollowness, and the question.

 

“ _ Who’s Roy?” _

 

“What?” Roy asked.

 

“That’s what he said,” Wally explained. “He knew who I was, he even said souvenir, but he didn’t know who Roy was.”

 

“He’s the missing link,” Kaldur said. “The thing that erased his memories.”

 

“And took them for his own,” Barbara said.

 

324 glared at them. Kaldur bent over and picked him up.

 

“Let’s go,” Kaldur said. “We need to contact the Justice League. Tell them to bring Martian Manhunter.”

 

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

  
  


Artemis couldn’t help but marvel.

 

There was Batman,  _ Bruce Wayne,  _ that made sense. Dick was his son.

 

But the whole team, someone who never wanted to even be seen with them, a girl who wasn’t supposed to meet them for months, Wonder Woman, Superman, Black Canary, was that Selina Kyle?

 

Add to that a thief, then. And Martian Manhunter.

 

He was currently talking with Batman, ten feet away. Kaldur nodded to M’gann.

 

“Conner?” a voice in her head asked. M’gann.

 

“He’s saying that Robin is pretty far gone, and it’ll take a long time to get all the memories back. An hour, at the earliest.”

 

Wally cursed.

 

“They’re starting,” Conner said. The mind-link broke.

 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Wally asked as Martian Manhunter approaches Robin.

 

“He is completely vulnerable,” Manhunter said. “It will be rather easy to get into his head.”

 

“What about 324?” Rocket asked.

 

“He will be more of a challenge.”

 

He took a deep breath, and put his hands onto their heads. It was not long before the room went silent

 

Twenty minutes in, and Wally hadn’t moved. Well, he had moved a bunch, tapping, fidgeting, almost talking, but he didn’t leave. It would take less than a second to go to the kitchen to get food and come back, but he didn’t move. Artemis knew he was probably starving. No matter how much they joked, she knew, physically, Wally couldn’t go that long without food.

 

Thirty minutes in, Wally was still silent, but was clutching his stomach. Not over dramatic, or anything, but Artemis could tell.

 

And then, out of the shadows, came Alfred.

 

Add to the list a butler.

 

He held out the tray he was carrying, exposing a mountain of cookies.

 

Wally had ten in his mouth before Artemis could blink.

 

Alfred offered her the tray. She took one.

 

When she bit into it, though, it tasted like heaven.

 

She almost forgot the situation because  _ that was one heck of a cookie.  _

 

She heard a small laugh from beside her. It was Wally. He was laughing at her.

 

She blushed slightly and shoved the rest into her mouth.

 

She had been to Dicks house maybe twice. Each time Alfred has offered cookies, it time she had declined. She hadn’t been hungry.

 

But honestly, if she had known, she would have just taken the tray.

 

How could Wally even think of eating M’gann’s cookies when these existed?

 

Artemis shook her head. Focus.

 

She checked the clock. 35 minutes.

 

And then it was an hour.

 

And then it was two.

 

By the third hour, Kaldur ordered them to sleep. They dragged their beds out.

 

Batman preferred to stand, thanks.

 

Artemis couldn’t sleep. She opened her eyes, there was Dick. She rolled over, it was just a wall, which wasn’t very distracting from her thoughts.

 

She knew there were similar thoughts from the team, because she could hear them moving. No one wanted to sleep with Robin like he was.

 

And then Martian Manhunter collapsed.

 

They all were up in a second.

 

Robin was waking up.

 

“I—“

 

“Uncle!” M’gann yelled, and Robin looked up.

 

“Did I do that?” he asked.

 

“No,” Batman responded. Dick met his eyes, and launched off the chair.

 

It didn’t even occur to Wally until later that it could have just been another trick. 

 

“I missed you,” Robin said in a small voice.

 

“And we missed you.” It was barely a whisper, but nothing else was being said.

 

No one objected to Batman’s claim, though. Not even silently.

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter ever! Wow! Took me a couple days to right, and the next one should be up by next Thursday.... so...


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